


Clarity

by asdfghjwy



Category: 2PM (Band)
Genre: Chansung ain't hardcore paparazzi, Internalized Homophobia, Junho and Khun too, M/M, RV's Wendy is a woostan here and owns a woo fansite, Taec makes occasional appearances, bff!wooho, but not really, he just takes pics of celebs, i love her btw, idols and paparazzi au, this is a slow build fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-24
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2018-11-18 07:17:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11286357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asdfghjwy/pseuds/asdfghjwy
Summary: The only thing Chansung loves about his job is the money, and how it brings him to Wooyoung.(Or, In which Wooyoung is an idol and Chansung is a paparazzi. Well, kind of.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I've been working on for almost two years now. This was spurred by 2015's seasons greeting's bts where Chansung couldn't stop taking pictures of Wooyoung, lol. And the fact that Wooyoung is his favorite subject because his candid pictures are the best and most natural. Lord, i just have so much love for Hwangtographer and his muse <3
> 
> Some (or most...) stuff may not be true (eg. the nature of Chansung's job, life of an idol, fandom culture etc) and altered to fit the story and make it work. Please do not take it seriously. After all, this is just a fanfic written for our enjoyment :)

 

Chansung hates his job.

 

The only reason he’s still in this is because he’s good at what he does. The job—despite invading a lot of other people’s privacy and bringing him a lot of hate— pays off unexpectedly well and money is exactly what Chansung needs. Thanks to his drunkard and gambler of a father, Chansung is left with so many of his debts to pay. Another one full year to go and Chansung might finally be able to free himself off from this whole thing, from the job he hates and from the stress of having to pay debts that weren’t even his to begin with. Until then, he just has to suck it all up, takes his heavy camera with him and snaps a lot of useful (and useless) pictures of celebrities to stir gossips to get people to come clicking on their sites.

 

The job really does pay off _very_ well, especially when Chansung gets a scandalous enough photo and (secretly) sells it to bigger companies who are willing to pay a lot for some juicy news. If only he didn’t have to pay for his father’s debt, Chansung would have been able to open up his own studio by now. But then again, that’s a different story for another time. Right now, Chansung has to be alert and get his camera ready to take pictures of this certain celebrity he’s been following around for a few weeks. Earlier on, Chansung saw him entering a motel with a girl but sadly he hadn’t been able to get a good picture of both people together.

 

Chansung takes a long drag of cigarette in, feeling the deadly smoke enter his throat and sending the sensation straight to his brain. Here’s a secret; Chansung _hates_ smoking. He lost a dear uncle to lung cancer because of smoking, and yet Chansung _can’t_ stop. Smoking helps in clearing his mind and keeping it alert, so Chansung often finds himself with a cancer stick in between his mouth when he’s out on a roll to snap pictures of his assignment.

 

Seeing a familiar figure exiting the motel, Chansung quickly drops his cigarette on the ground and squishes it off. Even from where he is standing (far away from his subject’s view), Chansung can clearly see them through his camera’s viewfinder, thanks to the new lens (secondhand, but hey, still good) he got as a birthday present for himself. The shock on his face is replaced with a smirk tugging on his lips when he realizes who the girl is (another known celebrity, “fuck yeah this gossip will be a _hit!_ ”, Chansung can already hear his editor saying that with sparkle in his eyes), finger pressing on the shutter button to take dozens and dozens of pictures. He puts his camera down and watches as the guy and the girl get into their respective vans, watches as the vans drove pass him and he can’t help but smirk even more. He fishes his phone out of his pocket, not really feeling like tailing the guy anymore because the photos he got for the night would be enough to last them with hundreds of thousands of hits on their site for at least a week.

 

 _Will send you some good stuff when I get back home. I’m calling it a night_ , Chansung texts his colleague— the writer of their team— as he gets on his car. _Come up with another interesting story this time and I think we can already look forward to eating expensive meats again._

 

 _You had me at expensive_ , his friend—Minjun— replies. _Bring it on._

 

Chansung grins and drives out of his hiding spot, suddenly feeling weeks of exhaustion crashing on him. As soon as he gets home, he’ll get the well-deserved and overdue rest he needs. Strangely enough, even though he hates his job, he always looks forward to the public’s reaction on their gossip articles. Right now, he’s just as curious but he will have to wait for tomorrow morning to know. He has a lot of patience for that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taec makes an appearance and Chansung finds out about his love for Nichkhun. Chansung sees Wooyoung for the first time in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Some (or most...) stuff may not be true (eg. the nature of Chansung's job, life of an idol, fandom culture etc) and altered to fit the story and make it work. Please do not take it seriously. After all, this is just a fanfic written for our enjoyment :)**

 

“Can you get any more obvious?” Chansung asks in amusement as Taecyeon tries to hide himself behind a thin tree and duck himself behind a small park bench. His built is just as big and as muscular as Chansung’s is (maybe even more) so all his attempts in hiding is pretty much useless in Chansung’s eyes. Who the hell does that nowadays anyway? It’s either you hide and snap pictures from afar or just approach the celebrities straight at their faces, as Chansung’s friend would say.

 

“Shut up, Chansung!” Taecyeon shushes him. It’s one of those rare days-off for Chansung and instead of resting at home, Chansung had decided to tag along with his friend stalking a celebrity. Since Taecyeon is working under a different company, Chansung is always curious of how he works. Unlike Chansung, Taecyeon’s company is smaller in scale. Taecyeon is his own photographer, writer _and_ editor for the articles he publishes. He also researches well on his subject so his articles always contain some truth masks in playful and teasing phrases instead of made up stories. Chansung admires Taecyeon, in all honesty, because he doesn’t go  _that_ low to sell his stories. On the other hand, the company Chansung’s working for…well, they’re always thirsty for attention, money and fame. It’s disgusting, really. Even more so when Chansung gets really used to it enough to live with it.

 

He still hates his job.

 

“Who are we following again?” Chansung asks. The amusement in his eyes doesn’t dim a tiny bit. He finds this whole situation funny and… _interesting_. They’ve finally settled in an alley across of an expensive, vintage looking apartment building after following a certain white van for a while. Chansung vaguely remembers ever coming here a few times before, but he can’t recall who the people he followed here were.

 

“Nichkhun,” Taecyeon says.

 

“Which Nichkhun? _The_ Nichkhun?”

 

“Come on man, how many Nichkhuns do we have here in South Korea?”

 

“Why are you following him, of all people?” Chansung laughs, as if he just heard the most ridiculous thing ever said. Ah, he remembers now. It was Nichkhun whom he had followed here. The handsome Nichkhun, the famous model turned actor. “He’s very clean and boring. You won’t find any dirt about him.”

 

“I know that,” Taecyeon says defensively, somehow annoyed as he switches and fixes his lenses. “I’m not here for that.”

 

The smile on Chansung’s face immediately disappears and replaced by confusion. “Then?”

 

Taecyeon gives him a toothy grin. “Doing this for fun. Haven’t updated my blog for a while.”

 

“What blog?”

 

“My blog dedicated to Nichkhun.”

 

“Your _what_?” Chansung snorts and bursts out laughing so loud he almost choked. “You have a blog dedicated to Nichkhun?!”

  
“I shouldn’t have let you tag along with me,” Taecyeon looks at Chansung in disapproval, failing to look half as amused as Chansung is.

 

“Oh my God!” Chansung laughs even louder, pressing his arm over his stomach and bending over slightly because his stomach’s starting to hurt from how hard he is laughing. Taecyeon looks as if he has something to say back to Chansung but then his eyes flick to a different direction and his hand immediately, automatically pulling his camera up to his eye and snapping photos in burst mode. Chansung only bothers to turn to look after he wipes the tears at the corner of his eyes and after he quiets down from his laughter.

 

He sees Nichkhun walking to the entrance of the building. Even when Nichkhun is only wearing his casual clothing, he still looks handsome and so out of this world. He is a real celebrity, Chansung thinks to himself, although he finds Nichkhun really _boring_. Chansung remembers the days he used to follow Nichkhun around for months to dig some dirty secrets from his private life but all of his attempts had been very futile back then that Chansung chose to give up and follow other celebrities instead. Maybe Nichkhun is just too good at keeping his image and private life hidden (and Chansung, for some weird reason, finds it annoying that he couldn’t break past that barrier), or _maybe_ , Nichkhun is just really _that_ clean and kind and people just have to accept that such person exists. Point is, Chansung had long given up on trying exposing Nichkhun on something non-existent.

 

“Get out of the way,” Taecyeon flails his arm without putting his camera down and pushes Chansung away. Chansung snickers and leans against the wall, taking out his cigarette and putting it in between his lips. Just as he lights up the lighter and brings it closer to the cigarette, Chansung sees him.

 

Clad in a checkered shirt, leather jacket and jeans that accentuate his perfect proportions, Chansung can’t take his eyes off of the other guy. His hair looks soft as they were blown by the breeze and Chansung briefly wonders how it would feel like to run his fingers through those brown locks. His finger itches to capture a shot of the beautiful being but unfortunately, Chansung didn’t bring any of his cameras with him that day.

 

“For someone who hates smoking, you sure do smoke a lot,” Taecyeon comments without looking at Chansung.

 

“Bad habit,” Chansung answers dismissively, and then adds “Who _is_ that guy, though?”

 

Taecyeon follows Chansung’s train of sight. “You serious? That’s Jang Wooyoung. You’ve never heard of him?”

 

“Wait, wait, wait. That’s _Wooyoung_?” Chansung asks in disbelief. Wooyoung approaches a small group of people with his kind eyes and a gorgeous smile, his hand reaching out for a marker and signing on something that unmistakably looks like an album.

 

“Yes. Man, you should follow idols more.”

 

“You know I only follow actors and actresses. They’re the ones with a more... _interesting_ life and with the dirtiest secrets. Always an easy target. Except Nichkhun, I guess,” Chansung shrugs. “But wow, seriously, what the hell happened to Wooyoung? When did he get so…hot?”

 

Taecyeon laughs, but doesn’t answer Chansung’s question. “The whole entertainment industry is dirty, Chansung. If you’re in for the dirty stuff, then idol world is definitely for you,” Taecyeon nods to his own conclusion. “It has just as much dark secrets and juicy scandals behind the scenes. Sponsorships, drug abuse, sexual abuse and all that jazz. It’s something worth exposing on, you know,” Taecyeon gives Chansung a look. Chansung rolls his eyes even though deep inside, he’s thinking about what Taecyeon’s said. He’s not ready for all the dark secrets but just like what Taecyeon had said, it’s definitely something worth digging and exposing on. But writing isn’t his forte. His job is only to follow celebrities and take photos of their lives off-camera, to dig on their—mostly— love/dating lives. Something more than that, Chansung doesn’t think he can handle just yet.

 

“Why don’t _you_ do it?” Chansung asks back. Wooyoung is seen to be chatting and laughing along with the girls and Chansung can almost hear his laughter, but not quite. Wooyoung’s smile is gorgeous though, Chansung will admit to that over and over again. Taecyeon hums, checking on the photos he had taken with his camera.

 

“Maybe when I get enough power,” he says. Chansung’s not sure what he means by that, can’t be bothered to find the meaning behind his words, _nope_ , not when Wooyoung lifts his head up at their direction and their gazes meet, not when Wooyoung combs his hair back with his fingers and puts his shades on, and especially _not_ when those lips curled into a small smirk.

 

“Jang Wooyoung,” Chansung grins back to himself. He definitely needs to find out more about the said idol.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung begins following Wooyoung to find out more about the idol. He also finds out why Taecyeon is a fan of Nichkhun and why he follows the idol on his free time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Some (or most...) stuff may not be true (eg. the nature of Chansung's job, life of an idol, fandom culture etc) and altered to fit the story and make it work. Please do not take it seriously. After all, this is just a fanfic written for our enjoyment :)**

Wooyoung debuted when he was seventeen— the same age Chansung started working to pay his father’s debt. It’s no wonder Chansung hadn’t been paying much attention on Wooyoung and following updates on him; it’s because he was busy trying not to fail his class while working on multiple part time jobs at the same time to get money to feed himself. He does recall a time when he stumbled upon Wooyoung once a couple of years back while he was following a different celebrity, though. Back then, Wooyoung still had the cute, pretty boy image on him so Wooyoung did not stand out much to Chansung. Furthermore, during that time, Chansung had been busy chasing around other celebrities to care about Wooyoung (or any other idols, really). But even so, meeting him again this time, Chansung can see how much Wooyoung’s changed.

 

Chansung closes the tabs on Wooyoung and gets back to work.

 

“Minjun!” Chansung calls for his friend who’s sitting on the other side of the room. He believes it’s only the two of them left in the office so Chansung doesn’t bother tuning down his voice. He can’t see Minjun with all the cubicle panels separating them so he’s only relying on Minjun’s voice as a response to his call and also as a confirmation Minjun hadn’t left yet.

 

“What?”

 

“What do you know about Jang Wooyoung?” Chansung asks, his finger busy scrolling and clicking on the mouse as he edits pictures for a magazine published under the same company he’s working at. It’s something he does on his free time for some extra cash at the end of the month. With a couple of dozens more photographers under their company, Chansung doesn’t get requested to photograph shoots for their magazines, much. That’s how he gets this  _part-time_ so-calledpaparazzi work under department in charge of gossip sites, earning most of his salary from there and from doing editing works.

 

There’s a slight pause and Chansung waits patiently for Minjun to answer back. He’s probably gathering what he knows about Wooyoung in his head.

 

“Wooyoung? Didn’t he have a comeback recently?”

 

“Yeah, but what else do you know about him? What kind of person is he? Have you ever seen him in person?”

 

“Why? Is he your new subject? Wow, Chan. You don’t normally follow idols, though.”

 

“He’s not and I don’t,” Chansung denies Minjun’s question and agrees to his statement. “I saw Wooyoung the other day while Taec was stalking Nichkhun and he looked so different. Not that I’ve seen him much before, but you know.”

 

“I think he was pretty much done with his old company and the image they stuck on him for years.” Minjun’s footsteps and voice get nearer to where Chansung is until he shows up on Chansung’s cubicle. He crosses and leans his arms on top of the panels and looks down at Chansung. “He has more independence with this new company, hence the drastic image change,” Minjun shrugs and then points at a picture of Wooyoung that Chansung still has on the screen. “I think this hairstyle is the tamest he has yet since he moved to Hottest Ent. Did you see his crazy hair colors?” Chansung chuckles along with Minjun and nods his head in confirmation. “I’ve seen him a few times before, had interviews with him when he was still a rookie. He seemed pretty nice and polite back then,” Minjun recalls thoughtfully. “But that’s not what I heard from other insiders recently.”

 

Chansung cocks his eyebrow up with interest. “What do you mean?”

 

“He has seven successful years of experience as a solo idol singer under his belt. They say he’s grown pretty cocky about it,” Minjun shrugs again. “Not the kindest, sweetest people out there. Not everyone’s favourite. He’s kinda rude, too, I heard.”

 

“I see.”

 

Chansung’s mind goes back to the memory of that day with Taecyeon. He remembers Wooyoung’s kind eyes and warm smile when he had approached his fans waiting outside of the building and thinks that it doesn’t look faked. He looked genuinely happy and grateful to see them so how can he be the same person Minjun just described to him? There’s a reason to every action and Chansung believes Wooyoung has his own reasons to behave differently around different people. Besides, Chansung can’t really judge Wooyoung’s behavior unless he finds out about it himself.

 

And damn right he’s going to find out.

Times like this, Chansung is thankful that the company—even if they do give pointers and guides on who Chansung should follow— lets him has the freedom to follow any celebrities he wants, just as long as he gives them good photos. At first, Chansung followed Wooyoung because he was just curious of the idol but after few days of following him and snapping photos of him, Chansung can’t seem to get enough of the singer.

 

Just like most celebrities Chansung had followed around before, he gets to see Wooyoung with his real personality when (he thinks) the cameras are not on him. Chansung also learned that the Wooyoung on-camera is not much of a difference with the Wooyoung off-camera; he’s witty, playful and cute, he gets serious but never rude. _Never_. Chansung would like to describe it more as being aloof when he’s with people he’s not very familiar with (or when he’s hit by moodswings), rather than being rude. It’s a pretty common behavior, Chansung mused.

 

From what Chansung has observed so far, Wooyoung –just like any other guys his age— likes to play a lot. Play in a sense that he goes to clubs on most of his free nights, he goes to high-end parties hosted by rich acquaintances, he flirts with different girls, he drinks and sometimes smokes and has drunken make out sessions with everyone. It’s nothing really shocking, but if the photos of him ever make it out into the public, Chansung is hundred percent sure that everyone will see him in a completely different light right after that. Just people and their unrealistic perceptions on how celebrities should behave or carry themselves, nothing too shocking either. Sad, but true.

 

It has also come to Chansung’s attention that Wooyoung is really good friends with Nichkhun and another solo idol that goes by the name Junho. While Chansung does occasionally see Wooyoung taking Junho to clubs and parties with him, Nichkhun—expectedly— doesn’t tag along. Chansung sees the three of them hanging out a lot, though; at Starbucks and other cafes to get meals together so he figured that they’re probably really close with each other. As it turns out, Wooyoung and Junho used to train together at the same company before they debuted under different labels. The reason why Junho left remains unknown to Chansung but he isn’t curious enough to find out. If it had been Wooyoung who left, then maybe Chansung would be more interested.

 

It’s another day of following Wooyoung around. Coincidently, Taecyeon’s out to stalk Nichkhun again and since Nichkhun is currently with Wooyoung, Chansung had stumbled on Taecyeon by chance. At first, Taecyeon is curious and suspicious of the reason why Chansung is here but then formed his mouth into a silent “O” after hearing Chansung’s explanation (“No, Taec, I didn’t follow your sweetheart here.”).

 

“But why Wooyoung, though? What do you see in him?” Taecyeon asks again. “You don’t usually follow idols, so why is he an exception this time?”

 

Chansung shrugs. He doesn’t know how else to answer that because he himself is not quite sure of what the actual reason is. There’s just something about Wooyoung that attracts him. Maybe it’s the loneliness in his eyes or the empty smile. The way he’s trying to live his life to the fullest everyday but his eyebrows would etch into a disappointed frown when he’s left alone with just his thoughts, as if there’s something missing in his life and he can’t figure out what. If Chansung told Taecyeon this, would he understand?

 

“You know,” Chansung starts. “I’ve always wanted to be a professional photographer and have my own studio. If I were to take pictures of people, Wooyoung is the type of person I’d want to snap photos of.” Or yes, maybe that’s why. If Chansung was to be honest about it, he’s not following Wooyoung to get materials for their latest gossip articles but rather because he just likes taking photos of Wooyoung. That guy is a beautiful subject, photogenic even in candid photos; ethereally mesmerizing. Chansung would _never_ get bored of taking pictures of Wooyoung.

 

Taecyeon snickers. “Oh, I understand that very well. The same case with me and Nichkhun then. Maybe _you_ should start stalking Wooyoung and open your own blog dedicated to him,” Taecyeon snorts at his own suggestion.

 

“I will not downgrade myself to sasaeng level,” Chansung jokes, lightly pushing Taecyeon with his arm. “Besides, I’m busy. I have no time for some fanboying shit.”

 

“We’re literally already sasaengs anyway,” Taecyeon makes a point and Chansung knows he’s right. By now, they’re already settled at a warm, cozy café to get themselves a nice cup of coffee for the chilly fall weather as Nichkhun and Wooyoung make no signs of leaving their company anytime soon.

 

“So, Taec. Tell me what you know about Wooyoung and Nichkhun. Have they always been that close?”

 

“If I remember correctly, it was Junho who introduced Wooyoung to Nichkhun,” Taecyeon says after thinking for a while. “And then it was Nichkhun who helped introduce Wooyoung to their company. He played a very important part in getting Wooyoung to join Hottest Ent. They became good friends along the way.”

 

“Is it just me or anything involving Nichkhun is boring? Even Wooyoung can’t escape that. I thought they had an interesting past together.”

 

“Hey watch your mouth!” Taecyeon disapproves. “Nichkhun is not _that_ boring. I think your standard is just too high. Sorry he can’t give you fun stories for you to twist but there’s more to life than just finding faults and flaws in people, you know.”

 

Chansung laughs at how defensive Taecyeon can get when it comes to Nichkhun. “Geez, are you in love with him or what?”

 

“So what if I am?” Taecyeon barks at him but Chansung knows Taecyeon is not really that mad—just slightly annoyed at him. “What’s wrong with admiring someone so much?”

 

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Chansung puts his hands up in surrender. “I don’t see what you see in Nichkhun, you don’t see what I see in Wooyoung but I know we both have our reasons why so it’s cool.”

 

Taecyeon sinks back into his seat, sipping on his coffee and looking at a distance with a thoughtful look. For a few minutes, there’s nothing but silence surrounding their table but after a while, Taecyeon opens up his mouth to speak again.

 

“I had a younger sister,” Taecyeon begins. Chansung averts his gaze at Taecyeon as he drinks his coffee, his questioning eyes regarding Taecyeon carefully. “She was an avid fan of Nichkhun. She…also had some _complicated_ disease.” Chansung widens his eyes in surprise, silently putting down his cup back onto the table and giving his full focus on Taecyeon. He’s a little confused as to why Taecyeon is suddenly telling him this, but he looks serious and kind of sad that Chansung doesn’t have the heart to stop him. “We needed money for her surgery but we didn’t have enough. Nichkhun somehow found out about my sister and he donated the other remaining money we needed for the surgery.”

 

Chansung’s eyes grow wider if that’s even possible. He never knew Taecyeon has—had?— a younger sister and he definitely never knew she was sick. He also had no idea Nichkhun had done such thing for his fan. “How come I’ve never heard about this? Was it in the news?”

 

“Nichkhun didn’t want to make such a fuss out of it so he donated in secret. Chan, he really was sincere in trying to make my sister get better,” Taecyeon gives a small smile full with amazement.

 

“What…happened to your sister then?” Chansung asks carefully. Taecyeon shakes his head.

 

“She didn’t make it. Even when she died, Nichkhun attended her funeral. See, I never really liked celebrities because I always felt like they’re fake and only care about fame but Nichkhun proves me wrong. Not all of them are like that.” Chansung remains silent on his seat. “I know his kind and good image unsettles some people but I believe that’s just how he truly is. I don’t understand the hate he’s getting on a daily basis. I guess some people just have too much time in their hands. That’s why I snap photos of him. I want to capture his good side, I want to share and show his kindness to other people so they can see he’s really not such a bad person.”

 

Chansung scratches his throat awkwardly. “Well…”

 

“That’s why you should stop making fun of him!” Taecyeon throws a napkin at Chansung even though it barely touches Chansung’s face. At least Taecyeon’s back to his usual self again and that’s a relief. “He’s like our family’s hero or something.”

 

“I get it, I get it,” Chansung blinks and nods dumbly, eyes following Taecyeon’s movements when the latter abruptly gets up from his seat. He quickly finishes his drink and hangs the strap of his camera on his shoulder. “Wait, are you leaving?”

 

“Duty calls,” Taecyeon simply answers. Chansung understands what he means when he sees Nichkhun exiting the building. He would have loved for Taecyeon to stay and keep him company because this kind of job gets really lonely, but he also understands that they both have... _obligations_ to fulfill.

 

Wooyoung, on the other hand, is nowhere to be seen and that can only mean one thing; waiting and more waiting on Chansung’s side.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did say this is going to be a slow-build fic, but I am going to remind you again: This is a slow-build fic, so I apologize if everything seems a big draggy orz but thank you for reading! <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is something wrong with Wooyoung.

Chansung is already down to his fourth cigarette that night. He normally doesn’t smoke a lot in between a short period of time but the lectures and scolding he received from his editor this morning have left him feeling nothing but bitter at everything. Chansung loves his editor—he’s like a brother to him— but not so much when he threatens to cut his pay just because he’s _slacking_ _off_ and not giving them the pictures they wanted. Sure, Chansung is contributing fewer photos than usual these days but he can’t accept it when people accuse him of not doing his job right. He has more than enough materials for their next online issue but...well. Chansung just refuses to hand it over to them. Chansung supposes it’s his own fault anyway, but still. Threatening to cut off half his pay? Not cool. He has debts to pay and a stomach to feed and neither is a choice; both are a must. Now he’s bitter and pissed _and_ frustrated because he has everything the company needs but the problem is that he doesn’t want to share all the photos of Wooyoung that he took. Not to his editor, not to anyone else. It’s like his private collection and he and only he could have access to.

  
“Damn Taecyeon turned me into a creeper,” Chansung hisses to himself, accusing his innocent friend because he just really needs something to put the blame on for making him so infatuated with Wooyoung. He throws the cigarette stick onto the ground and grumpily steps on it to put the fire off. Even though the sound coming from one of the most prestigious clubs in Seoul is mostly muffled, the beat is still as annoying to Chansung. The temperature has dropped drastically that night and covered only in t-shirt and a thin jacket on his upper body, Chansung is feeling really cold to the bones.

 

What’s even baffling to him is the fact that he’s still here, waiting for Wooyoung and to get his photo dose of him, when he could just get back in his car and drive back to the warmth of his home instead of loitering outside in the streets. Maybe he should just consider giving one of his less harmful photos of Wooyoung to his editor. Then they would leave him alone until the next due date comes and he can follow Wooyoung around in peace.

 

But then...

 

Maybe it’s luck. Maybe God is trying to give him a sign that He’s on Chansung’s side, because right after his mini contemplation, there’s a group of drunken teenage boys staggering out of the club. Chansung recognizes them but only because he just happened to find out about other idols while doing _researches_ on Wooyoung. Without wasting any more time, he takes photos of them with his camera, praying to God that this would be sufficient enough materials to shut his editors up. He sends the photos to Minjun as soon as he can and asks if the photos are worthy enough to be used for their upcoming issue.

 

 _Damn, isn’t that JBA?_ , comes Minjun’s reply.

 

 _JBA...? what does it even mean?!_ Chansung blinks at his screen, unamused.

 

 _Jinyoung’s boys attack,_ Minjun texts back shortly with a couple of laughing-crying emoticons. Chansung finally allows himself to laugh after a long whole day of brooding and being angry at the world. Such a corny name for an idol group. Korean entertainment industry and their lack of creativity deserve an award, seriously. _are they drunk?_

 

_very. they don’t look like they can handle alcohol well._

 

_where is this?_

 

_Red & Blue._

 

_these kids managed to get in that club?! How in the world?_

 

_are they all still underage?_

 

_i believe so. people will talk about this_

  
And that is all Chansung needs to hear. He knows he doesn’t have to always get explosive scandals; it’s just as long as he gets people talking, clicking and leaving comments on their site, _and_ he gets his pay, then that is enough for him. Putting his phone away and finally giving in to his body’s need for warmth, Chansung reluctantly leaves the spot he’s been waiting at for the past two hours. He will just have to see if he has time for this again tomorrow and it all depends on Wooyoung’s schedules as well. Right now, he needs to be home as soon as possible, indulge himself in a warm bath, make a hot chocolate and bundle up in his comfy blanket. Yeah, all of those actually sound quite tempting and promising.

 

Chansung ditches his backpack onto the backseat and slams the door closed, while his precious, precious camera goes to the passenger seat. Another roll of cigarette finds its way in between his cold lips as he rolls the window down, suppressing a loud curse from escaping his mouth when his fingers are having a hard time fishing out his lighter. His eyes carelessly scan the area around him as he lifts his hips up to get the lighter from his back pocket but then his gaze lands on two figures walking out of the club from the back entrance close to where Chansung parked his car. With a careful movement as to not get their attention, Chansung sits back down on his seat and grabs his camera, zooming in with his lens to get a clearer view of the people, his cigarette now lay forgotten on the dashboard.

 

His heart beats a little faster from excitement when one of the people is indeed, Jang Wooyoung. It takes him a few seconds and several shots later to realize there’s something wrong with Wooyoung today, feeling his heart clenched at the sight of his sad face. He’s saying something to the other guy—is that Junho?—, a frown on his face and fists clenched tightly on his sides. He looks really troubled and messed up that Chansung wants to hurt whatever is causing such pain to this precious guy.

 

It gets worse when Junho pulls Wooyoung into a hug. The latter immediately has his arms wrapped around the slightly shorter guy, his face buried on the crook of Junho’s neck. Now Chansung really wonders what’s going on and if Wooyoung would be okay. It’s almost funny he’s feeling like this, how he’s worried for Wooyoung even though they don’t know each other. Of course Chansung knows a bit (read: a lot) about the idol but all in all, they’re still practically strangers.

 

Chansung is so lost in his thoughts and worries that he doesn’t realize Wooyoung’s noticed his presence there until he pulls away from the viewfinder, only to have his gaze locked with Wooyoung’s by the idol himself. Even at this proximity and with the area poorly lit, Chansung can see the trail of tears glistening on Wooyoung’s cheeks. His heart sinks deep, a slight moment of panic at a possible confrontation and outburst from Wooyoung. Chansung is used to being confronted (and even hit) by celebrities whose patience have drained from all the stalking he’s done but this— being seen in a bad light by Wooyoung is not what Chansung wanted.

 

Surprisingly, Wooyoung doesn’t approach Chansung. Chansung doesn’t dare to break the eye contact, so they just continue to stare at each other in silence until Junho pulls away from the hug. Wooyoung finally looks away and averts his gaze back to Junho, nodding to whatever Junho is saying to him and letting him wipe the tears on his face. They walk back in to the club, but it’s not until Wooyoung gives him a last look and disappears from Chansung’s sight that Chansung finally lets out the breath he had unconsciously held in.

 

“Well, shit,” Chansung slumps his back on the seat, feeling his heartbeat racing from such silent but intense moment. His shaky fingers reach for the cigarette again, this time lighting it up and making sure to take a very long drag of the smoke in and exhaling it out along with all his nerves. “Jang Wooyoung, you’re really something.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung meets Wooyoung in an unexpected situation.

Chansung doesn’t take surprises well.

 

So when Wooyoung approaches his table in the restaurant while he was having lunch, pulls the chair and sits just right across of him, Chansung almost choked on his food.

 

“I thought you looked familiar,” Wooyoung grins, his elbow pressed on the table and chin propped up with his knuckles. He offers the glass of water to Chansung when Chansung couldn’t stop his coughing fit. Chansung accepts it gratefully and greedily downs the water to clear his airway. Wiping the corner of his eyes and mouth clean with a napkin, Chansung eyes Wooyoung carefully, quickly assessing the situation and Wooyoung’s intention. Seeing that smile and _this_ up close, though, Chansung can’t think properly so he just stares at Wooyoung with—what he believes— a dumb expression. “Not taking pictures today?” Wooyoung asks with raised eyebrows, scanning the surface of the table and then below it, as if looking for something, probably for Chansung's camera.

 

“Uhh,” is all Chansung says. Apparently, he’s failing in language now, too. It was meal break for Chansung, so he had left his DSLR inside his backpack because he knows he won’t be bothered with anything else aside from his food when it’s time to eat. He has his compact digital camera hanging around his neck, though, but it’s covered by his jacket so Wooyoung probably didn’t see.

 

“You know, I keep a very close eye on all my fansites, and I have never seen you before. Are you new?” Wooyoung asks again, his eyes sparkled with curiosity and quiet excitement. The glint in his eyes dims a bit when he doesn’t get any response from Chansung, his smile fading into a thin line. “Please say you are because if you’re not and you're _something else_ , I will hate you,” he says. The smile is back on his face and it looks playful, but the slight venom in his tone is unmistakable.

 

“I’m not,” Chansung disagrees. “You are welcome to hate me.” Deep in his heart, it’s obviously not what he wanted though. Honestly, _no one_ would want the person they like to hate them... _Wait, hold up. Like?_ Chansung thinks to himself. _Hwang Chansung, you’re stepping on a dangerous zone here._

 

“You’re not. _Yet_ ,” Wooyoung’s voice breaks Chansung’s train of thoughts. “You could if you chose to be, though.”

 

That makes Chansung feels a sudden amusement. Is Wooyoung _that_ proud? Does he expect everyone to like him and be his fans? His thoughts are broken again with Wooyoung knowingly saying “Now, I don’t care if anyone wants to be my fan or not but I do know I don’t want to hate you because I really _want_ to like you.”

 

With a raised eyebrow, Chansung looks over at Wooyoung more carefully as he leans back on his chair, his fingers absentmindedly playing with the napkin. Chansung had always thought Wooyoung’s eyes are very expressive, like his feelings and thoughts could be read just by looking at them, but seeing Wooyoung straight in his eyes like this right now, Chansung is finding a hard time figuring out if Wooyoung’s telling him the truth or if he was just bluffing with Chansung. Why would Wooyoung want to... _like_ him, anyway?

 

Wooyoung presses his forearms on the table and leans closer, his voice more hushed and suddenly octaves lower as if he’s sharing an important secret with Chansung. “It was you, right? That night? You saw me and Junho outside of Red & Blue?”

 

Ahh, that night. Of course Chansung still remembers that night. How could he not? It was the night Chansung had witnessed Wooyoung’s emotional breakdown, the night Wooyoung had _really_ noticed Chansung’s existence. But why is Wooyoung bringing this up again?—

 

Oh, it clicks in Chansung’s head. _Oh_. Wooyoung’s trying to stealthily ask for the photos. Chansung gets it now.

 

“Yeah, it was me. I saw you.” Still eyeing Wooyoung, Chansung can’t help but smirk seeing Wooyoung tapping his fingers on the table in a contemplative manner. Wooyoung is biting on his lower lip, his hand brushing back his hair. This goddamn gesture that Chansung loves so much that he ends up staring openly at the idol.

 

“Were you taking pictures that night?” “Did you take pictures of _us_?” he rephrases sternly, almost in urgent demand for answers. Chansung has no intention of playing with Wooyoung, but he _does_ want to make Wooyoung intrigued enough to keep him around, so he responds with a vague shrug of his shoulders. Wooyoung folds his arms on his chest. “Well, this is becoming a... _nuisance_. How much do you want?”

 

Chansung definitely wasn’t expecting that. At least, even if he had taken the pictures of Wooyoung with Junho, he didn’t think it would make such a big deal to the idol. It wasn’t even half as scandalous as the ones Chansung had taken before! Eyebrow rising up again, Chansung mirrors Wooyoung’s action of crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re willing to pay for _that_? Is it that important to you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“This is not some kind of bribery, is it?”

 

The corner of Wooyoung’s mouth twitches in displeasure at that. “People are paying to expose my private life. I’m paying you to _keep_ my private life under the radar.”

 

“Well, let me tell you this;” Chansung says. This time, he’s the one leaning closer and talking with a hushed voice. “The part about keeping your private life under the radar? You’re not really good at it.”

 

Wooyoung widens his eyes at Chansung.

 

“I mean, getting drunk and kissing people openly?” Chansung clarifies. “So much for wanting to stay under the radar, eh?”

 

Wooyoung laughs freely but Chansung can’t tell if he’s mocking or genuine about it. What’s for sure now is that people is beginning to notice there’s an idol star in the restaurant— all the whispers and phone cameras directed at their table does not go unaware by Chansung, and definitely not by Wooyoung either. Luckily, none of them is standing very near to their table so Chansung and Wooyoung can still have quiet conversations without being heard.

 

“I don’t give two shits about that,” Wooyoung says with a somehow eerie grin. “What I _do_ care about, are those photos of me with Junho that you took.”

 

“Why?” Chansung asks, unable to understand the reason why the photos with Junho are more important to Wooyoung and not the drunken photos of him with different random people. The smile lingers on Wooyoung’s lips. Chansung knows Wooyoung has to keep it there because the cameras are on him. Somehow, he feels bad for Wooyoung especially when something in Wooyoung’s eyes changes into sadness and he can’t even show that openly. Must be tiring living this kind of life, Chansung muses.

 

“I don’t want to be seen in that kind of state,” Wooyoung says and continues in a low whisper, “I don’t want to be seen alone with another guy.”

 

“But he’s your friend,” Chansung points out. Wooyoung takes a deep breath in and out, and then smiles so widely at Chansung until his eyes curl into crescent moon shapes.

 

“Just give me the photos. _Please_.”

 

“Uh,” Chansung stares dumbly at him, bewildered and captivated at the same time. Did Wooyoung just use aegyo on him? Holy shit, that’s a whole lot new feeling and experience, Chansung thinks to himself. He feels his heart flutter at the realization of how good-looking and cute Wooyoung is (again), his smile so mesmerizing that Chansung just wants to stare at the idol all day and take pretty pictures of him. If only that was possible. “Don’t worry about it,” Chansung says. “None of the photos were good so I deleted them all.”

 

Which was a lie, of course. Chansung keeps all of the photos of Wooyoung that he took. Even the blurry ones have a special folder of their own in his desktop, but Wooyoung doesn’t have to know that.

 

The look Wooyoung gives to him is nothing short of skeptical. “How do I know you’re not lying?” he challenges. Hmm well, Chansung has no answer to that but he figured he’d just have to convince Wooyoung about it.

 

“If I were, the photos would have been out by now,” he tries to make a point. A weak point that is. Wooyoung seems to consider what he said, although he doesn’t seem to trust him. _At all_. After a while, Wooyoung sighs in defeat, reluctantly accepting everything Chansung said.

 

“If the photos made it out to the public, I swear…” he trails off, mumbling his speech. Chansung still doesn’t get what’s the big deal. It’s just a photo of Wooyoung with his friend. Well...to be fair, it’s a photo of Wooyoung _crying_ to his friend. Maybe that’s it. Maybe Wooyoung doesn’t want people to see the weak and fragile side of him, maybe Wooyoung doesn’t want people to worry about him, _maybe_ Wooyoung doesn’t want people to find out what’s wrong with him.

 

Because maybe, there _is_ something wrong with him.

 

“I’ll keep my eye on you, whoever you a—” Wooyoung’s eyes found something on Chansung’s side—his backpack— and before Chansung can see what Wooyoung’s looking at, Wooyoung is already meeting his gaze again, a victorious grin on his face. “ _Hwang Chansung_. I’ll keep an eye out on you,” he ends the conversation, standing up from his seat and walking out of the restaurant with graceful steps like the idol that he is, with all eyes and (phone) cameras following him.

  
Chansung turns to look at his backpack and scoffs at the absurdity of this all. “Seriously,” he grabs his bag’s tag and throws it back in disbelief. Despite it all, there is still a sense of pride and satisfaction at Wooyoung noticing him and even knowing his name now so all in all, this isn’t such a bad experience.

 

Chansung looks forward to meeting and talking to Wooyoung again, but for now, he needs to calm his fluttering heart first and finish his (now cold) lunch.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung is at the airport with other fans welcoming Wooyoung back from his schedule overseas. Chansung briefly meets Wendy.

 

Chansung cuts down half the hours of following Wooyoung around just so he wouldn’t come out as too obvious. It’s hard to control and discipline himself to do it, but he’s managing quite well that he thinks he deserves a pat on his back. He’s only around when the other fans are (or when the situation allows him to be around without being noticed too easily), blending in with the crowd of fans especially those who also take pictures of Wooyoung for their sites ( _Fansite masters_ , Taecyeon said. Chansung had rolled his eyes at that). Chansung thinks it’s working just fine, except the part where other fansite owners seem to recognize and acknowledge his presence in their small circle. Chansung clearly doesn’t want to mingle with them, but it’s not like he has that much choice anyway. If he wants to take pictures of Wooyoung, then he has to be nice to the other photographers so they’d cooperate with him.

 

“You’re an oppa, right?” a small, shy voice can be heard asking the question. Chansung knows it’s directed to him because there are no other guys around them. When Chansung turns, smiles and nods at her, it was mainly out of courtesy. The girl blushes and looks away, her grip on her camera visibly tightening. She’s cute and petite, hair just long enough to be pulled into a neat ponytail. Wearing floral and pastel themed clothing, she looks way too young to be doing this, to be holding a camera with lenses that are far more expensive than Chansung’s very own. “We all have noticed you around a lot lately, and all of us are wondering if you’re really Wooyoung oppa’s fansite master. Are you?” she asks timidly.

 

Chansung smirks and shifts the strap of his camera to his left shoulder (this thing is quite heavy and his right shoulder’s beginning to feel sore). It might have taken her a lot of courage to start the conversation, so Chansung takes pity on the blushing girl and offers her a kind smile. “If you guys want to think it that way, then let it be that way,” he answers vaguely.

 

The girl looks confused, her head tilting to the side slightly. “But if you are, then how come I’ve never seen a new fansite around?” she wonders. “What’s your site called? Or do you co-own an existing site with multiple people?”

 

Fandom is truly an intriguing thing, Chansung concludes. Every day, there’s always something new to learn about it that Chansung doesn’t think any of this will stop amusing him anytime soon. While Chansung doesn’t necessarily agree to the whole culture of fandom, he likes getting the insights of it all and using the knowledge to help himself around getting the materials he needs for work (and for personal use, ahem). He smirks at the thought, and when his gaze meets with the girl’s expecting ones again, Chansung realizes he has a question to answer.

 

“I—,” he begins but gets cut off with the sudden commotion around them. Shutters go off, dozens and dozens of blinding flashlights are aimed at a certain direction and screaming of a particular name filling the air. Chansung –and so does the girl— knows who has arrived at the airport. They both look away from each other, cameras and lenses fixed to snap pictures of the same person walking out of the arrival gate. He’s wearing a comfortable airport fashion style, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses and a Bose earpiece stuck in one ear as he types away on his phone. He doesn’t seem bothered by the noises around him. It’s either he’s used to it, or he’s just too absorbed in conversing with whoever it is on his phone. Chansung wonders who this person who managed to get his attention is, and pretends he doesn’t feel the slight jealousy pricking his heart.

 

“Wooyoung, over here!” screams one of the media photographers, desperate to get good photos for their online site. Wooyoung looks up from his phone screen, a polite smile adorning his face as he poses for the cameras, and then an even wider and warmer grin when he looks at a group of his fans calling his name. He doesn’t forget to greet and thank them for welcoming him back to his hometown after completing a schedule overseas. Lowering down his sunglasses a little so he could see his fans from eye to eye, he accepts their fanletters and small gifts, and engages in a small talk with them. It’s the same genuine smile Chansung remembers from the first time he met Wooyoung and just by the look of it, anyone would know Wooyoung cherishes his fans a lot.

 

In all honesty, it wouldn’t be hard for people to notice Chansung in the crowd of fans because of his gender (one of the few ‘fanboys’) and because of his height towering over everyone else so he isn’t surprised when Wooyoung notices him today. He’d given up trying to hide away from Wooyoung that day, anyway.  What he didn’t expect is for the idol to somewhat ‘acknowledge’ it.

 

“Didn’t think I would see you guys here,” he says openly, even though in Chansung’s ears, it sounded like it was directed to him more. Besides, seeing how he’s always followed by his fans everywhere he goes, it’s impossible for him not to know he will always see them around. Moreover, when Wooyoung had said that, he had his gaze locked with Chansung’s before hiding his eyes behind the darkness of his sunglasses again.

 

“Of course we would be here!” the fans choruses cheerfully, excitement in the air from being able to be _this_ close to their idol _and_ talking to him. Wooyoung grins at them and even though Chansung can no longer see Wooyoung’s eyes, he can still feel Wooyoung’s gaze on him.

 

“Alright, my pretty princesses,” he says, pausing as if to contemplate and then lamely adding “and handsome knights”, gaining a fit of giggles from his fangirls. “I have to go and so does all of you. Please go home safely and keep warm in this kind of weather. Don’t catch a cold!” he starts walking and waving his hand at them. “See you again soon,” he says, and again Chansung feels like it’s directed more to him this time around as well. Even after saying his goodbye, the fans still follow him, not wanting to waste the opportunity to look and admire their idol up-close.

 

When Wooyoung slides open the door to his van, he’s not the only one surprised to see Nichkhun and Junho in there. The fans screams in shocked excitement to see three celebrity stars, and it only takes Wooyoung a short moment to get himself back together and greets his friends, getting in the van and waving a last goodbye to the fans.

 

The door shuts closed, but not after Chansung’s gaze meets with Wooyoung’s. He could have sworn the edge of Wooyoung’s lips twitches into a smirk, only disappearing when the metal door separates them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung meets Wooyoung at a party.

Chansung doesn’t like parties, but he likes Taecyeon as a friend so when the said guy insisted for him to tag along to his friend’s birthday party, Chansung reluctantly agrees.

 

Taecyeon never mentioned his friend is filthy rich— as in he lives in a fucking mansion rich, nor did he ever mention there would probably be lots and lots of known people attending as guests. He also definitely never _even_  mentioned Wooyoung is one of those people, so Chansung is torn between dreading stumbling upon people in the industry who hated him with a burning passion or feeling excited that he can see Wooyoung outside of their works again.

 

“How would I know he’d be here?” Taecyeon exclaims, his voice slightly screeching. “And I thought you liked him. You should thank me that I let you tag along with me to this party.”

 

Chansung snorts in disbelief, because Taecyeon was the one who resorted to begging Chansung to come along with him since he didn't have anyone else he could ask  but doesn’t bother to come up with a witty reply. He’s lost sight of Wooyoung so he has a more important thing to do than to bicker with his friend. When he sees Wooyoung again—standing just by the stairs—, Wooyoung sees him, too. He picks up a glass of champagne and walks to where Chansung and Taecyeon are without breaking eye contact with him.

 

This time, when Wooyoung approaches him, Chansung is calmer and easily able to control his facial expression and reaction. However, Taecyeon, on the other hand, is taking this a lot more dramatically than Chansung’s first time of meeting Wooyoung at the restaurant. He ungracefully spits out the beer he’s drinking just as Wooyoung walks up to them and says “`Sup Hwang Chansung?”

 

Neither of them wants to make a comment on how gross Taecyeon is acting, so the said guy tries to shake it off by wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, but then as soon as he takes another swig of his beer and Wooyoung turns to greet him with a “Hi Taec!”, his beer is sent spluttering out of his mouth again. This time, Wooyoung can’t mask the disgust on his face, but both he and Chansung sends Taecyeon off with an amused look when the said guy excuses himself with a flail of his hand as he heads straight to the restroom to clean himself up.

 

“You know Taec?” Chansung quirks an eyebrow up, chugging on his own beer and slipping one hand in the pocket of his jeans. Wooyoung looks at him and gives a nonchalant shrug.

 

“Of course,” he says, as if it’s that obvious and that it’s not a big deal at all. “Everyone knows Taec.”

 

Chansung finds it strange and funny at the same time, laughter bubbling up his throat. He doesn’t know who _everyone_ is but he asks “Are you serious?” anyway.

 

“Yeah,” Wooyoung blinks. He doesn’t look like he’s kidding. “I mean, that guy owns one of the largest Nichkhun fansites.”

 

That only makes Chansung bursts out laughing, slowly relaxing and warming up to Wooyoung’s presence like he’s just another human being, a normal person and not the idol he likes and loves to follow around. “Even _you_ know that? Wow, I’m impressed.”

 

“Yeah, he’s kinda cool,” Wooyoung comments casually, like he’s hung out with Taecyeon before and personally know him even though Chansung is quite sure he's never had. “He’s giving Khun a really good image and exposure. I like that.”

 

“Hmm,” Chansung hums as a response and doesn’t say any more than that. He’s wondering why Wooyoung had come up to him. Maybe he just wanted to say a brief Hi and then move along to a different guest in the party, but to Chansung’s surprise, Wooyoung stays where he’s standing and starts another conversation.

 

“You know the host?” he asks, referring to Mr.Im— the host of the party, who is also the guy celebrating his birthday today. Chansung shakes his head, letting his eyes wander and drinking in the sight of Wooyoung. He’s wearing simple dark denim jeans, a white tshirt with a cute bow printed on and the same leather jacket Chansung notices Wooyoung’s always wearing. The weather outside is not as warm as it is inside Im Seulong’s _mansion_ so Chansung hopes (even though it’s none of his business) that Wooyoung at least has a warm coat or jumper hung up somewhere.

 

“I don’t personally know him, but Taec does. I have no idea how, but yeah. He asked me to tag along cause he’s a loser and doesn’t have any friends except me,” Chansung snorts. “Been a rough week, so I thought, why the hell not, right?”

 

Wooyoung’s still taking a sip of his champagne ( _expensive taste_ , Chansung notes) when Chansung’s stopped talking, so he only acknowledges what Chansung said with the raise of his brows. “You know,” Wooyoung swallows and clears his throat, that damn tongue licking what’s left of his champagne on his lips. “You make a _really_ good-looking photographer.”

 

Chansung wasn’t expecting Wooyoung to say that but fortunately he didn’t choke on his drink, or spit it out like Taecyeon would have had. He tries to remain calm—or at least, appears to be— even though his heart is flipping like crazy inside his chest. Honestly, anyone would when they receive compliments from the person they idolize.

 

“You think so?” Chansung smirks, fishing for what exactly is Wooyoung up to (or maybe for more compliments, yup that must be it). Wooyoung seems to relax, too, now. He moves to Chansung’s side (just an arm away from each other) to lean on the wall as he looks over the guests scattered around in the huge, spacey foyer.

 

“Yeah, I do think so. People should be taking pictures of you; not you taking of theirs,” Wooyoung says, his hand making weird, useless gestures to emphasize his point. He finishes his champagne and then stares at Chansung. “You got any cigarettes I can lend?”

 

“I do, but cheap ones and probably don’t suit your taste,” Chansung informs him. But it seems like Wooyoung doesn’t really care. He’s already putting his empty glass on the nearby table and beckoning Chansung to follow him. Curious but mostly out of instinct, Chansung’s feet begin to move, following Wooyoung. He’s led to a door connected to the dining hall. When they step outside, Chansung realizes it’s the patio, with roof made of glasses barely covering the long pool. At night like this, the water appears greenish blue and too cold for Chansung’s liking that he actually shivers just at the sight of it. Wooyoung continues walking and Chansung continues to follow until they stop at a fire pit. The seats are made of half a circle, the cushion covering the bricks looks so comfy that Chansung immediately slumps down. He watches with curiosity and great interest at Wooyoung knowing where to find the oil and matches for him to light up the pit.

 

“You know your ways around here,” Chansung points out carefully. Wooyoung only shrugs and takes his own seat after successfully lighting up the fire, both hands in the pockets of his jacket. As expected, the temperature is really cold outside and Wooyoung’s entire clothing is just way too thin for this weather. Chansung reaches out for his box of cigarettes and then throws it, just light enough to land near Wooyoung who’s sitting at the edge of the brick bench.

 

“Seulong is a friend but he’s closer to Nichkhun and Junho,” Wooyoung belatedly replies. He fishes out a stick and throws the box back to Chansung, who easily catches it into his hands. “Friends couldn’t make it so I came on behalf of them.”

 

“Busy people, your friends.” He watches Wooyoung lighting up his cigarette using the fire from the pit before getting himself a stick and putting it in between his lips. He doesn’t feel like smoking because he personally doesn’t like the taste of beer and tobacco on his tongue, but alas he feels like it’s a polite thing to do. He just has to keep the stick there and doesn’t have to light up his cigarette.

 

“Khun is at the peak of his career,” Wooyoung says. “I mean, when is he not?” he chuckles. “He’s always busy with work. Junho, too,” he adds. Wooyoung exhales the smoke from his mouth and takes a look at the stick.

 

“Told you it’s cheap and doesn’t taste as good,” Chansung reminds him, deciding not to touch more on Nichkhun nor Junho because he really has no interest in them or whatsoever.

 

“Doesn’t matter,” Wooyoung dismisses. “They are just as deadly.”

 

“You’re appearing to be a little morbid right now.”

 

“You gonna write that down in your tabloid, Hwang? Should I pose for a pretty picture for you?” he smirks. He crosses his legs on the bench, elbows resting over his knees and cigarette tapped in between his fingers to get rid of the ashes.

 

“It’s not my job to write. I only take pictures,” Chansung tells Wooyoung. “ _Candid_ pictures.”

 

“You sure you don’t want to take pictures of me right now?” he smirks teasingly. “Oh well. Your loss then.”

 

Chansung thinks he really can’t read Wooyoung right now. He’s glad to be talking to Wooyoung, glad that Wooyoung could be this less guarded around him but at the same time it bothers him that Wooyoung doesn’t really care about their statuses. “What are you doing?” he finally asks, genuinely curious of Wooyoung’s intention now.

 

“Talking? And smoking,” he inhales the smoke deeply.

 

“No. I mean. Does it not bother you even for a tiny bit that you’re talking to someone who’s working for one of the companies that publishes nasty gossips? I’m kind of a paparazzi, you’re the celebrity. One wrong step and your secrets could be exposed to the world by yours truly.”

 

“I thought it wasn’t your job to write though,” comes his cheeky reply. “Besides, we’re not working right now. You’re not a photographer, I am not a celeb. You’re just Hwang Chansung and I’m just Jang Wooyoung. We should leave it at that.”

 

“So, if we met when we're working, do you expect us to act professional with each other?” Chansung wants to know. "Pretend like we don't know each other maybe?" He doesn’t mind how they are right now— this slightly comfortable state they put themselves in, but he needs to know if Wooyoung expects him to behave in a certain way if they were to meet again when they’re working. After all, no _one_ likes paparazzi— while they do give entertainment, most people think of them as life and career-ruiners. "I mean, if you're gonna hit me if I take your pictures or get close to you, you have to let me know right now, okay? I'll avoid you like the plague," he jokes.

 

Wooyoung laughs and says, “Don’t expect me to be any different from how I am _right now._ I don't do that kind of stuff where I treat people differently on-camera and off-camera, you know." His lips curl into his signature smirk. He exhales the smoke one last time and flicks the now short stick into the pit, both of them look as it disappears in the fire. “But I’m just saying that for the moment we should forget about what we do for a living and just enjoy the party.”

 

“You don’t look like you’re enjoying yourself,” Chansung points out. “Or are you really?”

 

“Well, _at least_ one of us _is_ trying,” Wooyoung says. “And let me tell you this: it’s _not_ you, Hwang,” he grins.

 

Chansung can’t help but to grin as well. “For the record, I don’t really care what people think or feel about me but it doesn’t make it less uncomfortable to be around people who don’t like me that much.”

 

“Not everyone’s favourite, eh.”

 

“Not _anyone’s_ ,” Chansung corrects. “Nobody likes me,” Chansung says casually as if he has long accepted that fact, and then adds: “Except maybe Taecyeon and Minjun. Even Taec hates me sometimes because I tease him and his love for Khun.”

 

“You are one big bully,” Wooyoung looks at Chansung and shakes his head in mock disappointment. “You should pick someone your si—,” Wooyoung presses his lips into a thin line mid-sentence. “Nevermind, he _is_ your size…But hey, don’t be mean to Taec. His love for Khun is very pure.”

 

Chansung bursts out laughing. Wooyoung probably had said that to defend Taecyeon but it sounded like a mockery in Chansung’s ears.

 

“I’m glad you find me funny?”

 

“Why are you defending him, you don’t even know him personally,” Chansung asks with genuine interest. “How do you even _know_ him?” he says with wonder. The air around them has turned completely comfortable now, and they’re talking like two friends who have known each other for years. Chansung is not quite sure he dislikes that. In fact, he’s really enjoying Wooyoung’s company.

 

“Nichkhun tells me stuff. Taec might think Khun doesn’t remember him anymore, but he does. He still remembers Taec and his little sister,” Wooyoung smiles the same warm smile he has for his fans. “He recognized Taec as soon as his stylist noona pointed out this one handsome fan of his.”

 

Chansung only listens without interrupting and adding any comment, playing the cigarette stick in between his fingers.

 

“I’ve seen his site,” Wooyoung shrugs. “He captures beautiful pictures of Khun and spreads good words about him. Anyone would have been glad to have him as a fan. He’s like— the ideal fan of every celebrity.”

 

Chansung snorts at _that._ “Now aren’t you just exaggerating?”

 

“Maybe just a bit,” he gives a cheeky smile. “Are you that kind of fan?”

 

“And if I were?” Chansung challenges, but quickly loses when Wooyoung says “Then I hope you’re mine. Looking only at me with those sparkly eyes, having your lenses fixed on only me, saying lovely things about me.”

 

Chansung doesn’t want the blush to go up his face, because it’s embarrassing to feel this flustered when Wooyoung says what he said. He feels so open and vulnerable, like Wooyoung might hear his fast beating heart, like Wooyoung could hear his mind and find out Chansung’s feelings for him with one single look, so he comes up with a quick reply. “Isn’t half of your fandom already like that,” he states.

 

“Doesn’t hurt to have another one.” Chansung had been focusing his eyes on the fire that he doesn’t realize Wooyoung’s moved closer to him until he snatches the cigarette Chansung had just put in between his lips and sticks it in between his own.

 

“Do you realize that cigarette was from my mouth? I could’ve given you a new one.”

 

“It’s cute how you think I care about those kinds of thing.”

 

“What—”

 

“Wooyoung, there you are!” someone interrupts their moment. Unlike Chansung, who immediately turns to see the owner of the voice, Wooyoung scoffs and seems to not want to have anything to do with the _unwanted visitor_. “Yah, Jang Wooyoung!” the lady approaches closer to the fire pit, her bob haircut swaying along with her urgent movement. “I told you to mingle with all the people in there, why are you out here?!” she demands, huffing and grabbing Wooyoung by the arm.

 

“Oww, noona!” Wooyoung whines, his face contorts with displeasure but there’s aegyo laced in his voice.

 

“And you’re _smoking_?? Yah, yah, how many times do I have to tell you smoking is bad for your health? Especially your throat!”

 

“Noonaaaaaaa,” Wooyoung wails when she pulls on his ear and takes the stick from his mouth, only to throw it in the fire. Chansung would have mourned about how a “precious” cigarette stick had just been wasted just like that, if only he wasn’t greatly amused with what’s going on.

 

“Get up, get uuuuuup!” she urges, pulling Wooyoung up by his ear.

 

“Ow, ow, owwwww. Okay, okay!!” Wooyoung exclaims, already surrendering. “I don’t want to mingle with people. I just want to have fun,” he pouts. Chansung chuckles quietly in disbelief, surprised to see this side of Wooyoung.

 

“Is this fun to you? Out in the cold, smoking with a random strange—,” she closes her mouth when she sees the said stranger’s face. “Oh, hello,” she greets politely, the look in her eyes and the smile on her face change drastically. She tucks her hair behind her ear and bows slightly, and then just turns into a completely different person. “Omomo, aren’t you a handsome one!” she says, clasping her hands together and pressing her cheek on them as she looks at Chansung with adoring eyes. Chansung shifts his gaze to Wooyoung to ask for explanation of what’s going on, but Wooyoung’s only rubbing his now red ear, mouth mumbling incoherent words grudgingly. “What’s your name? Which agency are you from?” she asks, getting Chansung’s attention back on her. "I've never seen you before. Are you a rookie?"

 

“Huh?” Chansung blinks in confusion.

 

“Ahh, I love parties like this! So much eye candies! Oh, my eyes are blessed from this sight. My existence is blessed by handsome people like you!”

 

“RiJin noona!”

 

“What?!” she barks back at Wooyoung.

 

“Leave the guy alone. Tell me what you want! And if you dare to say "him", I swear to God...”

 

“Pfft,” RiJin crosses her arms on her chest, but manages to remember what her real purpose of coming here was. “I said get back in there! You need to introduce yourself to people. Director Song is in there, you know? He’s coming up with a new project, try and charm your way to him.”

 

“What am I, still a rookie that needs to keep playing The Impression game or something?” he says grudgingly. RiJin looks just as unimpressed as Wooyoung is. Chansung remains as an amused spectator of this whole commotion.

 

“Lose that arrogance, lose that ego, lose all that proudness!” she says, emphasizing her words with slaps of her hand on Wooyoung’s back, as if they're able to drop all the negative attitude off of Wooyoung's body that way . “You’re not going to get far with those.”

 

“I’ve gone far enough.”

 

“Yah!” “Ahh, this kid making me lose my calm image in front of such a handsome man,” she huffs, hands on her hips. Chansung widens his eyes and straightens up.

 

“Is your image the only one ruined?” Wooyoung mumbles and Chansung wants to laugh heartily at how cute Wooyoung is, but of course he doesn’t. RiJin takes a deep breath in and out to calm herself down.

 

“Are you going back in, or _are you_ going back in?”

 

“Wow, you give me so many choices,” Wooyoung replies sarcastically.

 

“While you’re at it, lose all that sass as well,” RiJin raises her eyebrow, fingers pulling on Wooyoung’s ear again.

 

“Noonaaaaaaaaaaa!” Wooyoung screams in pain, but follows her so it won’t hurt him even more if he doesn’t.

 

“Bye Mr.Handsome. We’ll be able to meet and introduce ourselves in a better circumstance next time,” RiJin waves her hand at Chansung as she walks away, wide grin on her face and hearts in her eyes. “Fate will bring us together again. Fateeeeeee~”

 

“You’re not a noona. You’re a NO-na,” Wooyoung comments out of spite, another pained scream fills the air right after. “Okay, okay, I was wrong,” he says, their voices slowly turning muffled as they go farther and farther away from Chansung. Chansung is half amused, half amazed, still trying to take in on what just happened right before his eyes. He looks away when Wooyoung and RiJin are completely out of his sight, slumping deeper into the seat and resting his head on the headrest, his eyes looking at the dark sky above. Even though the fire is warm enough for him, Chansung still feels cold now that Wooyoung is not there with him. Even so, he can’t get rid of the silly smile on his face. He doesn’t see Wooyoung again for the rest of the night, but that’s okay because Chansung knows they _will_ meet again soon.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung can't get a hold of Wooyoung, but then meets him at one of the broadcasting stations and has lunch together. Wooyoung is asking for an odd favor.

 

 

However, soon doesn’t come soon enough.

 

It’s the craziest and messiest week in Chansung’s life. After the party, Chansung never sees Wooyoung around again. It’s hard to track him down and that fact itself is odd because Chansung has never had a hard time getting Wooyoung’s schedule in his hand before. He even resorted to stalking fans on SNS but by the look of it, even they don’t know where in the world Jang Wooyoung is right now and what is he up to these days. Chansung is beginning to feel restless and that bastard of a friend Taecyeon is only knows how to poke fun at him. Seriously, the only reason Chansung had call Taecyeon up to accompany him was because he didn’t want to get bored while waiting around doing his job. Now, maybe he’s regretting it a bit too late.

 

“Missing your boyfriend already?” he teases, raising his eyebrows as he leans more to his side to take a peek on what Chansung is looking at on his phone.

 

“Shut up,” Chansung grumbles. He scrolls further down the timeline and only sees pictures of Wooyoung dated latest from a week ago. No new pictures, no new updates, no nothing and that only makes Chansung frown and worry more. “Did something happen?” Chansung asks aloud. “Did I _miss_ something? He’s not going to enlist soon, is he?”

 

“Should I give him a call and ask what he’s up to?” Taecyeon casually asks, crossing his legs and hand reaching out for his phone on the table, a smug smile on his face. Chansung is mildly interested in Taecyeon’s antics but mostly just unimpressed. Although Taecyeon doesn’t talk much about the fact that celebrities (Nichkhun and Wooyoung) _know_ him, he does have his moment where he likes to randomly boast about it, mainly just to annoy Chansung.

 

“ _Shut up_ ,” Chansung rolls his eyes, giving up on trying to track Wooyoung and harshly dropping his phone on the table.

 

“There, there. I’ll ask for his phone number next time so it’ll be easier to get a hold of him at times like these,” Taec tries to sympathize but the pats of his hand on Chansung’s back are only making him feel even more irritated than he already was. Taecyeon keeps his hand there, while the other is used to tap and scroll on the screen of his phone. “Yah, you know what?”

 

“What?” Chansung asks back without real interest to know the answer. His gaze lazily looks around the place trying to spot his target, who had entered one of the cinema halls an hour and a half ago and was supposed to be out by now. He would have followed the girl into the cinema and tried to see who she was with, what kind of movie they were watching and what _exactly_ are they doing in there but in all honesty, Chansung really doesn’t have the mood to work right now. He just knows he needs to hand in the photos to his editor so he tries to get this over and done with as soon as he can. Getting lousy photos just for this time wouldn’t hurt. Much. Chansung is way past caring anymore. Seriously, where in the world is Jang Wooyoung? It’s his only and main concern right now.

 

“You’re pretty popular amongst Woostans.”

 

That catches Chansung’s attention. “I’m _what_?” “What the _fuck_ is a Woostan, even?”

 

“Woostan. You know, Woostan,” Taecyeon tries to offer explanation, but comes out plainly lame. “ _You_ are a Woostan. You admire Wooyoung and are a fan of him, so you’re a Woostan.”

 

“Huh.”

 

“And _you_ are _popular_ amongst your Woostan peers. Look at them going all “handsome oppa” about you,” Taecyeon says. He shows Chansung his twitter timeline and true enough, there’s a buzz going on amongst _Woostans_ regarding a handsome fansite master. Chansung wouldn’t believe they were talking about him if they didn’t attach a sneaky, blurry picture of him talking to the petite girl at the airport last week. Even though her face was blurred out, he recognizes her outfit from that day.

 

“What the hell, they took pictures of me!” Chansung says in disbelief, taking Taecyeon’s phone into his hand to take a closer look at the pictures. There are even high quality pictures of him carrying his camera around and taking pictures of Wooyoung. “I swear I wasn’t aware of this. How long has this been going on?”

 

“I don’t know. A while, maybe ,” Taecyeon shrugs nonchalantly . “How does it feel like to be the one whose photos are taken by someone else?” he grins.

 

“Creepy,” Chansung admits. He honestly did not know anything about this. All he ever cared about when he goes online is to look for pictures of Wooyoung taken by other photographers and news on him. He never bothers much about what’s going on inside the fandom.

 

“Well, remember that feeling, cause that’s how our targets feel about us taking sneaky photos of them and they see it on gossip sites,” Taecyeon says. Chansung hates how true his words are and how they make him feel bad and uncomfortable. He’s just doing his job. He didn’t mean any harm, for the most part.

 

“I feel like I need to be more careful,” Chansung dismisses what Taecyeon just said. “If they find out who I am and what I do, they’d be so pissed.”

 

“Didn’t know you care about those kinds of stuff,” Taecyeon grins teasingly. “On a more positive note, that would probably make them leave you alone. But I doubt absolutely _none_ of them know who you are. There has to be at least a small group of them who does.”

 

“Now you’re just freaking me out.”

 

“It’s true. You know how netizens get,” Taecyeon shrugs again. “But the fact that none of them has confronted you yet is probably a good thing.”

 

“Wow, that makes me feel so much better,” Chansung quirks an eyebrow up.

 

“Don’t worry about it!” Taecyeon laughs obnoxiously, his hand unnecessarily hitting Chansung’s back. A crowd of people are seen leaving the exit hall of the cinemas so Chansung tunes out Taecyeon’s voice and sharpens his eyes to look for the girl. It’s hard to see with so many people around, but Chansung manages to spot her by the color of the shirt she’s wearing.

 

“Gotta go,” Chansung declares curtly, leaving his spot with Taecyeon as he puts the straps of his backpack on and rushes outside, ignoring Taecyeon’s shout of “Bye, _handsome oppa_! Thanks for dinner!” It’s not like Chansung can just take his camera out with so many people around him without being regarded as suspicious, so he chooses to find a much dimmer and secluded place before fixing the lenses on his camera and adjusting the focus at his target.

 

Chansung sees her—Suji— clearly and she’s unmistakably _not_ alone. By the way her partner dresses—thick scarf covering the lower part of his face and hat pulled way down covering his eyes, it’s an easy guess that he’s not just any normal guy. Chansung concentrates more, finger ready to click the shutter button and eye refusing to look away just in case he misses an opportunity to snap a picture when the guy shows his face.

 

When the guy moves slightly to look around them, Chansung _does_ see his face. Although it’s just the upper side of his face, Chansung would recognize those foxy eyes anywhere. His suspicion was only made right when the guy pulls down his scarf to speak with Suji, and then smiles as he opens the door for her.

 

Chansung feels an unpleasant feeling lurching around his stomach. He doesn’t know what the feeling is, but what he’s aware of right now is how his finger just automatically snaps the shutter button and takes the picture in a burst. The feeling doesn’t go away when Suji leaves the place, doesn’t go away when the guy enter his own car and drives away from the scene as well, doesn’t go away even when Chansung wakes up the next morning nor when he goes to sleep again later that night.

 

It doesn’t go away even when Chansung finally meets Wooyoung again.

 

Chansung is not supposed to be surprised to see Wooyoung in one of the major broadcasting buildings because it’s where most celebrities practically _live_ at but it still surprises him especially after he hasn’t seen the idol for a while and how he just casually grabs Chansung’s arm when they pass by each other walking on opposite direction at the hallway.

 

“What are you doing?” Chansung frowns. He was here to take care of some work a close hyung had asked of him and was just about to leave, but now it seems like it’s not going to happen soon.

 

Wooyoung only says “I’m hungry” back to Chansung as he drags the taller guy with him towards the cafeteria on the second floor. His grip is tight around Chansung as if he doesn’t want Chansung to escape from him, only letting go when they arrive on the buffet table to pick up a plate. Despite himself, Chansung picks up his own plate and queues along with Wooyoung to get their food. “Oh, hungry. So hungry, so hungry,” Wooyoung singsongs quietly, craning his neck to see how long the queue is as he sticks the upper part of his spoon into his mouth. Thankfully, the line isn’t that long and the people move fast so it’s not long until it’s finally their turn.

 

The cafeteria serves a variety of foods that day. Even so, while Chansung gets small portions of as much different foods as he can get to fill his plate, Wooyoung on the other side only fill his with chicken caesar salad and a few pieces of kimbap.

 

“God, it’s so hot,” Chansung mumbles to himself as they walk to one of the empty seats on the outer part of the cafeteria. It’s a less popular spot because even though it’s breezy outside, the sun’s way up in the sky and it’s too bright to eat comfortably. He takes a seat facing away from the sun, but the wind’s blowing from behind him and messing his hair so it’s not entirely a good spot either. Luckily, he brings his hat with him, so he puts it on and poof! Problem solved.

 

“Hey, a little sunlight is good for you. It helps prevent skin cancer,” Wooyoung says. Unlike Chansung, Wooyoung has no problem sitting on a seat exposed to the sun. In fact, he seems to be enjoying it, basking himself in the warmth of the sunlight. Chansung figures that since idols probably spend most of their time recording indoors, it might be a nice change to go outside breathing fresh air and getting natural light.

 

“Is that all you’re eating?” He knows celebrities have a diet to follow even though they need to gain more than to lose, but Chansung can’t help but to ask anyway.

 

“No. I’m going to eat these,” Wooyoung answers, pointing the fork to the kimbap and salad. “And this and this and this and this _and_ this,” he points to the foods on Chansung’s plate. It’s not that Chansung doesn’t share his foods with other people, it’s just that— _okay_. Chansung _really_ doesn’t share his foods with anyone, so when Wooyoung had said that, his hand reflexively pulls the plate away from Wooyoung, gaining a pout from him. BAD MOVE his mind screams and Chansung immediately looks away, stuffing his mouth with food. “I thought we are sharing. See, I took enough salad for the both of us!”

 

Chansung swallows to prevent himself from choking, only light cough escaping his mouth from hearing Wooyoung’s words. “I am not eating that,” he deadpans. “It looks gross, to be honest. I’ll eat the kimbap, though.”

 

Wooyoung widens his eyes and lets out a dramatic gasp, pulling the plate closer to him as if he wanted to hug the salad to comfort it. “You have a bad mouth, Hwang Chansung,” Wooyoung presses his lips into a thin line, pretending to be scandalized by Chansung’s words. Chansung stuffs his mouth with food again in an attempt to stop the smile from showing on his face but that only makes Wooyoung grin.

 

“ _What_ are we doing?” Chansung sighs. Chansung can’t, for the life of him, understand what they’re doing and what kind of relationship do they have with each other. Can they even be labeled as friends?

 

“Are you aware—,” Wooyoung starts, chewing on his salad carefully. “—that you have this tendency of asking really obvious questions? What are we doing? Well, obviously, we’re _eating_.”

 

“No, I mean—.” Chansung closes his mouth back, thinking of the words to say to Wooyoung. “Why are we eating _together_? Are we friends or something?”

 

Wooyoung takes a napkin and wipes the salad dressing that managed to stain his lips. “I thought we’ve established on that. Or haven’t we?” he asks, more to himself. “Well, do you want us to be friends? If not, then. We’re just having lunch together with me as the idol and you as my fan,” he shrugs.

 

“Idols don’t have lunch with their fans. And I’m not your fan, please,” Chansung rolls his eyes.

 

“ _Please_ ,” Wooyoung rolls his eyes back.

 

“No, seriously. What makes you so sure I’m a fan?” Chansung wants to know.

 

“You take pictures of me?” Wooyoung answers unsurely, knowing well how weak that point is. “And you follow me everywhere. Oh my God, I get it now. You _are_ a fan but a sasaeng one.”

 

Chansung bursts out laughing. He has to drink to clear his throat before he can say “In case you have forgotten, taking pictures and following celebrities around is _my job_.”

 

“So taking pictures of me is a part of your work?”

 

“Absolutely,” Chansung lies. Taking pictures of Wooyoung was never for the purpose of his work; Chansung had long accepted that. He just doesn’t want to give Wooyoung that satisfaction so easily.

 

Wooyoung’s lips curl into a full smirk that it almost looks sinister to Chansung’s eyes. Then he asks the million dollar question: “Then _where_ is this work you speak of, Chansung? Why haven’t I been seeing pictures of me on your site? Your tabloid?”

 

Chansung blinks dumbly at that, obviously taken aback by the question. Then he laughs freely, enough to send the same look of taken aback on Wooyoung’s face. “What?” Wooyoung asks.

 

“I just haven’t found a scandalous picture of you yet,” Chansung snorts. Something in Wooyoung’s eyes darkens and Chansung immediately regrets saying that. Right after saying it though, Chansung is instantly reminded of the pictures of Suji that he had taken a few days ago.

 

The silence that falls is short but heavy with tension. Chansung can’t take it so he decides it’s better to replace it with another conversation. “Where have you been?”

 

Wooyoung acknowledges that he had heard Chansung’s question with a hum, still taking careful chew on his salad as he uses the fork to get the chicken. “Around,” he answers. “I’ve been busy doing stuff.”

 

“Where _exactly_?” Chansung tries to fish for more information. “And doing what?” He doesn’t mean to sound so invasive and interrogative, but he really can’t help it. With Wooyoung “missing” without any news or any tracks, and that night when Chansung had taken photos of Suji at the cinema with her supposed date…Chansung just has the strong urge to know.

 

“Why do you want to know?” Wooyoung sounds slightly irritated. “Is it that important to you?”

 

 _Yeah_ , Chansung says inwardly. _It is important to me,_ but doesn’t say it out loud. “’Cause I saw you. You know. With Suji?” he inquires carefully. Wooyoung’s eyes light up with something else— a hint of surprise with a tinge of excitement.

 

“Wait, wait. You did?” he says, a grin on his face. Chansung can’t find what’s so amusing or funny about this that it can bring a smile back on Wooyoung’s face but he isn’t complaining. It’s better than seeing Wooyoung all silent and without any expression on.

 

“What were you guys doing?” he continues, and thinks if he’s asking an obvious question again. Of course they were having a date, right? What else could it be?

 

“It was a movie date,” Wooyoung replies almost haughtily. “Did you get any pictures of us?”

 

Chansung blinks in surprise. “So what if I did?”

 

“Perfect!” Wooyoung exclaims with mirth dancing in his eyes. “ _Release_ them.”

 

“ _Excuse me_?”

 

“Release them!” Wooyoung repeats gleefully. “Come on, Hwang. You want scandalous pictures and story of me? This is it!”

 

“…So let me get this straight. You _want_ me to _release_ those pictures of you with Suji?”

 

“You heard me right.”

 

“Why?” Chansung blurts, incredulous. “Why would you—,” he knits his eyebrows together into a frown. Everything sounds so absurd in his ears. So Wooyoung wants to have a scandal, with Suji. But, why? Why would anyone throw themselves into the spotlight, into the prying eyes of the public like that? “You’re out of your mind,” Chansung concludes. “If you really wanna date and keep her around, do it quietly. Your relationship will be over as soon as you publicize it. Or are you actually doing this to end it all?” he raises an eyebrow up.

 

“You’re ridiculous,” Wooyoung looks back at him in amusement, chuckles accompanying his stare. “It’s media play.”

 

“Media play?” Chansung cocks his head to the side, still not getting what Wooyoung is on about. “For what?”

 

“This is so perfect, really,” Wooyoung ignores Chansung’s question, sighing with satisfaction. “How about next week?”

 

“What??”

 

Wooyoung gives an innocent look at Chansung. It drives Chansung up the wall at how easy Wooyoung can play with his feelings. “The pictures. Release them next week.”

 

“I don’t understand you,” Chansung admits, pursing his lips together and deepening the frown on his face.

 

“Do you want to?” Wooyoung quickly teases. “To understand me, I mean.”

 

Chansung ignores him, refusing to indulge in that question. “One day, you told me you want to keep your private life under the radar. And now, you want it _out_ in the public?”

 

Wooyoung props his cheek up with one hand while the other is used to move his fork to not-so-sneakily takes the food on Chansung’s plate as he looks at him like he’s a fascinating subject. “Who said this one is private?”

 

Chansung feels even more baffled by that question. Wooyoung takes pity on him when he finally explains, “I told you it’s a good media play. Suji and I are involved in a new drama project together. Our characters have a love line in there so it’ll be good to make people have interest in us and the upcoming drama.”

 

Chansung tries to sink in the information carefully.  “So, you guys are not really dating?”

 

“Hwang, I can’t tell if you’re disappointed or relieved,” Wooyoung teases again, eyes full of mischief.

 

Relieved. Chansung is relieved, he knows, but there is no way he’s going to admit that if it only means Wooyoung would tease him so much about it. “Are you sure about this?” Chansung asks instead.

 

“Pretty damn sure about it, yes,” Wooyoung nods. Chansung feels glad when Wooyoung uses the napkin to wipe clean the salad dressing on his mouth because it was getting too distracting for Chansung. “How about _This Batch_? They’re pretty big and well-known. The bigger the company is, the faster news spread, the better it is for us.”

 

Chansung nods in consideration. “It’s not my personal favorite, but I do know a few writers from there who’d be interested. Or desperate enough to take the headline, at least.”

 

“Sounds good enough to me.”

 

“I don’t know how this is going to work though. Are you going to be in a fake relationship with her?”

 

“We’re _trying_ to give that impression. Not gonna make anything official though. Just doing this to pull the attraction towards the both of us. Then they’ll find out about the drama project. Won’t they be interested to check out on what brought us together? I think they’d be interested,” he answers his own question.

 

“Seems quite risky. Will it really work?”

 

“Don’t know but I’m betting on it. Besides,” Wooyoung puts his fork down before continuing: “I’m helping her out as a close oppa. Did you know we’re senior and junior of the same uni?” he smiles. “If you wanna go even way back, we trained together before for quite a long time. She’s like a little sister to me. A little sister I want to protect.”

 

“Protect from what?” Chansung inquires curiously. “If the news of you guys ‘dating’ comes out, won’t that cause damage to your image or career?” Chansung feels silly asking a silly question because finding love or being in a relationship is not in any way a bad thing, but well, it’s just not easy being a celebrity _and_ being in love when you practically _belong_ to hundreds of thousands of fans. “How would your fans feel about that? What about her fans? Won’t you be getting hates and threats or something?”

 

Wooyoung gives Chansung a look. “What do you take my fans for? Crazy fangirls?”

 

“ ‘No guys or girls are good enough for my hyung/noona/unnie/oppa”, no?” Chansung jokes. He can’t help but smile at how defensive Wooyoung gets when it comes to his fans. “Your fans are nice, I’ll give you that. But what about a small portion of them who are way too protective or obsessive over you? Aren’t you worried about that? Aren’t you worried for Suji?”

 

“I guess there will always be that part of fans in the fandom,” Wooyoung admits with a shrug. “I mostly think she’ll be okay. We talked about it.”

 

Chansung finds it strange Wooyoung said it like that, like there’s more to this than meets the eyes. “Are you really doing this for the sole purpose of getting people interested in your drama project or is this for something else?” Chansung asks carefully. “Cause it feels like it, like it’s not the case at all.”

 

“It’s _mostly_ the case but I can’t certainly say there’s no other agenda behind it either.”

 

“So there _is_ something else,” Chansung accepts easily. He’s curious but not interested enough to find out. Not much yet, anyway.

 

“Yeah. I’d tell you more about it if we were friends. But what to do? You’re just a fan, I’m just the idol. Man, things we can’t talk about are—” he pauses to spread his arms wide open. “—this huge. Maybe I’ll consider telling you if you swear not to tell anyone else, or if you sign an agreement to keep your mouth shut after I tell you the truth.”

 

“You are a silly one. And how many times do I have to tell you? I’m not your fan.”

 

“Sky is blue, grass is green, Chansung is lying, Chansung is in denial— what else is new?”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“Seriously though, all you had to do was ask for my number so we can talk more and be friends.”

 

“Where is the logic in this, Jang?”

 

“Just ask for it cause I can’t just give it to you, Jesus,” Wooyoung rolls his eyes, unlocking his phone in what looks like annoyance, but the light blush on his face gives him away. Chansung can’t stop grinning at that.

 

“Okay. Can I have your number so ‘we can talk more and become friends’?”

 

“That’s more like it,” Wooyoung smirks and tells Chansung his number. He carefully saves the number in his contact list and puts his phone back down after leaving his number on Wooyoung’s phone through a missed call.

 

“I have to go back to work now,” Wooyoung announces, stealing some of Chansung’s foods one last time and stuffing them into his mouth as he gets up to leave. “Bye,” is all he says without looking at Chansung, typing away on his phone and heading for the door. Chansung watches Wooyoung quietly as he munches on his food, and then snaps awake when his phone vibrates against the surface of the table. Chansung finds out it’s a new kakaotalk text from Wooyoung.

 

 _Pretty wallpaper you have there, Hwang_ , it says. Short and straightforward and enough to make Chansung’s insides twist in panic realization and thumb scrambling to check the photos of his lock screen and home screen. “Shit.”

 

  _Read 14:00_ _You are dead the next time I see you, Ok Taecyeon._

 

_…_ _14:00_

_?_____?_ _14:01_

 

Chansung groans, wishing he could shrink and hide away from the rest of the world for three months and a half. He groans again when he looks at his lock screen and sees a picture of a Wooyoung taken in a photoshoot, smiling back at him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung finds out about an old blind item of Wooyoung and Junho.

Chansung’s mood turns sour with every article of Wooyoung and Suji he clicked. Just like expected, everyone has different opinions and reactions in regards to the so-called dating rumor. So far, Chansung’s only been seeing a lot of negative comments than positive ones. He wasn’t prepared for such backlash towards Wooyoung when the article was released. Even though it had been Wooyoung’s idea, Chansung still feels bad. He’d agreed to send one picture to _This Batch_ , and another one to _News In_  as suggested by Wooyoung, but unfortunately news spread fast between insiders. Before Chansung knew it, he’d gotten lots of calls from unknown numbers asking for better pictures for a high deal. He had been reluctant about selling the pictures but since Wooyoung was the one who asked him to give them anyway, Chansung agreed once again. Now, he has to sit through the storm and wait for it to subside—hopefully— soon.

 

Chansung has long abandoned his phone since last night, keeping it ringing and letting the battery died along without any intention to recharge it anytime soon. He clicks on another article, skipping the paragraphs spewing lies and controversies and ignoring the pictures glaring back at him, jumping straight to the comment section.

 

 _[+283, -150]_ _ㅋㅋㅋ male and female celebs can’t go out as friends apparently_

_[+186, -43] Nothing is official yet and people are already making hateful comments and assumptions based on a series of photos. Let’s wait for their agencies to release a         statement first._

_[+24, -63] WOOYOUNG OPPAAAAAAAAAAAA NOOOOOOOOO_ _ㅠㅜ_

 

“Well, that was refreshing,” Chansung mutters after reading the comments. He was losing hope in humanity and their lack of intelligence, but it’s nice knowing there are still people out there who are sane enough to remain calm and make reasonable comments instead of jumping into the bandwagon of hating Wooyoung and Suji. He keeps on clicking on the articles, sucked into the black hole of reading the netizens’ comments.

 

 _[+90, -9] what a perfect match. Crazy visual_ _ㅋㅋㅋ date happily~_

 _[+75, -1] Wooyoung oppa and Suji only have 4 years in their age gap, which is not a big deal. Wooyoung oppa is not that old_ _ㅋㅋㅋㅋ they’re both grownups and can take         care of themselves._

_[+10, -30] is it a trend to date someone way older than you nowadays?_

 

_[+100, -100] what a sly fox_

_[+80, - 5] heol_

_[+30, -75] Dating each other to bury the old scandals, I see_ _ㅋ pathetic_

 

“Old scandals?” Chansung rereads the comment again, feeling slightly confused and intrigued. Right about then, a message pops up, the notification sound catching Chansung by surprise. He clicks on the Line notification from Taecyeon, saying nothing but sending him a screenshot of an article of Wooyoung and Suji. Chansung’s about to reply but Taecyeon beats him to it.

 

 _That’s photo of Suji from that night, right?_ _10:44_

 _She was with Wooyoung?!_ _10:44_

 _But most importantly_ _10:45_

 _Team kill?! Preposterous! Time-out for you, Hwang Chansung_ _10:45_

_Like, okay, I know you’re heartbroken and shit but that’s_

_so low of you to take revenge that way_ _10:46_

 _Read 10:47_  

 _Read 10:47_ _I didn’t do it because I wanted to_

 _Read 10:48_ _It was all wooyoung’s idea_

 _Wooyoung??_ _10:48_

 _Spill me the deets_ _10:48_

 _Read 10:49_ _idk man, it’s a long story_

_I DON’T CARE I HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD_

_TODAY_ _10:50_

 _NOW TELL ME_ _10:50_

 

Chansung sighs, but ends up telling Taecyeon everything anyway— from how he saw Suji with a guy that turned out to be Wooyoung, to when he met Wooyoung at SBS and down to how Wooyoung ended up telling him to release the photos as a part of mediaplay for their upcoming drama project.

 

 _So lemme get this straight_ _11:20_

 _There not really dating?_ _11:20_

 _They’re_ _11:20_

 _Read 11:22_ _The last time I checked, nope, they’re not_

 _Good for you then o/_ _11:22_

11:23

 _Read 11:26_  

  _Read 11:27_ _Man I feel bad for wooyoung_

  _Read 11:27_ _All these backlash_

 _Meh, I’m sure he’s fine_ _11:28_

 

Chansung stops replying after that, moving on to the next article. Seeing the comments again, he remembers the previous ones mentioning “old scandals”.

 

 _[+200, -190]_ _ㅋ Suji-yah, you can do better than him._

 _[+180, -200]_ _ㅅㅂ isn’t that the same idol who was caught in a scandal with his bestfriend of the same gender before? Suji, why?! Just date me. I’m 101% straight and manly_ _ㅋ_

_[+70, -15] it wasn’t even a scandal but A BLIND ITEM spread around to bring bad image to Wooyoung. I feel bad for him falling victim into the hands of anonymous and faceless people spreading lies on the internet._

 

“Blind item?” Chansung asks aloud, cocking his head to the side. “Scandal? Best friend? What are they talking about?” When he can’t find the answer himself, he resorted to asking Taecyeon instead.

 

 _Read 11:45_

_Read 11:45 what old scandals are they talking about?_

 

_Read 11:47_

_Read 11:49 ???_

_Geez netz need to learn how to move on 11:53_

_But anyway, it was an old rumor 11:53_

_About these two celebs having a thing with each other 11:54_

_The problem lies at the fact that they were both males/females 11:54_

_Ppl speculated it was wooyoung and junho cause they’re all like 11:56_

_So chummy with each other 11:56_

_Read 11:57 Wow_

_Read 11:57 That’s so dumb_

_I thought wooho were well-known bestfriends_

_Read 11:58 with each other cause they go way back_

_wtF is wooho lol 11:58_

_‘sides it’s normal for_

_Read 11:58 celebs to be close with other celebs_

_Read 11:59 woooyoung junho. Lazy to type_

_Read 12:00 and you made me type anyway_

_Read 12:00 pfft_

_LMFAO 12:00_

_I want khuntaec. Taeckhun 12:00_

_12:01_

_Read 12:04_

_Read 12:05 You’re disgusting_

_Read 12:05 I didn’t even mean it THAT way_

_CHANNNNNNNNNNNNNN 12:05_

_WOOOO 12:05_

_CHANWOO CHANWOO CHANWOO 12:06_

_Read 12:07 I’m blocking you_

_Read 12:07 forever_

 

Chansung can see Taecyeon replies with a “LOL” through the pop-up notification, so he doesn’t bother opening their chat window again to respond. Instead, Chansung finds himself contemplating whether it’ll be worth it to feed his curiosity. In the end, the curiosity wins against his logic judgement. He hesitantly types “blind item” on the search box first, and then quickly types “Jang Wooyoung Lee Junho” and presses search.

 

His eyes wildly scan thousands of post showing up on the search result, not knowing which one to click first. He opts to pick a random one, which turns out to be a site notorious for posting malicious articles and comments on celebrities. The supposed blind item on Wooyoung and Junho itself is only short of about three hundred thousand views to reach a million, the comments reaching up to ten thousand posts. With the recent news of Wooyoung and Suji’s “dating” scandal, it appears that people have started to dig up old rumors judging from the recent date of the latest comments.

 

“It’s been three years and people still have problem moving on from this,” Chansung shakes his head in disbelief. A part of him is beginning to believe releasing the photos of Wooyoung and Suji had not been a good idea after all if it means people will only bring up and talk about the old rumors again like this.

 

 _A and B have known each other even way before debut,_ the blind item reads. _Their friendship is no stranger to people in the entertainment industry. They are envied by a lot of people especially because they’re both famous celebrities and have made a mark of their own in the entertainment industry for the past few years. What people don’t know is the secret behind all those hushed whispers shared in award ceremonies, late night meet-ups and hand holding in public places. They might mask it as just being “close friends” but in fact, A harbours romantic feelings for B and B might just feel the same towards A. A is famous for his cute flower boy image and funny persona on variety shows. B had just finished his tour recently, to which A had attended half of the concerts._

 

Attached with the blind item are pictures and videos posted by the writer, as their own proofs of why they guessed A and B are Wooyoung and Junho. It includes pre-debut pictures of Wooyoung and Junho, pictures of Wooyoung and Junho from their respective fansites showing them sitting together in award ceremony shows— laughing and talking to themselves, blurry pictures of them both alone at Han River and cafes late at night and also pictures of Wooyoung holding hands with Junho backstage during an end of year performance rehearsal. There are also links to accounts of fans spotting Wooyoung at Junho's concert, though no one really posted photos of it. The only photo that shows Wooyoung's attended Junho's concert was from Junho's official twitter account, but Wooyoung wasn't alone because Nichkhun and juniors from their company were there as well.

 

Chansung frowns and leans back on his chair.

 

“This is too obvious to be a blind item. Anyone would know A is Wooyoung and B is Junho,” Chansung says to himself as he clicks on the compilation clips of Wooyoung doing well in different variety shows and loved by the audience and panels. “It’s like someone purposely made this to drag Wooyoung down. This world is a scary place,” Chansung shakes his head again, although in his mind, he wonders if the bits about Wooyoung harbouring romantic feelings for Junho are true. He doesn’t know how to feel about that, _yet_.

 

But the more Chansung thinks about it, the more things start to make sense.

 

When Wooyoung confronted Chansung at the restaurant and asked him about the photos he’d taken of Wooyoung and Junho, Chansung hadn’t known it was all because of the old blind item. Now he knows why Wooyoung would be worried or scared, understands that Wooyoung had the rights to be suspicious of Chansung’s intentions. If Chansung had released the photos (even though he didn’t have intention to do so) the rumor would resurface, and not only Wooyoung would be thrown in a bad light but Junho as well. Homosexuality is still a taboo thing and not openly accepted by a huge majority of the Korean society, so Wooyoung’s and Junho’s careers were at risk. Everything would be over for them because once the netizens see and get a new thing to hate on, they’d refuse to listen to any explanation. They wouldn’t even bother to find the real truth. They would only want to believe what they want to believe and there would be no end to their hate.

 

Chansung is honestly glad Wooyoung didn’t have to go through that. At least for now.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung meets Wendy, and Wooyoung.

 

 

The company usually gives Chansung a maximum of two months to submit new photos from his last, but they also encourage him to take and give them any new photos anytime he has one as long as it’s gossip-worthy. It’s not easy doing this job. Sometimes, Chansung gets good photos and sometimes, he doesn’t. Sometimes, the pay is high and can last him for a couple of months, sometimes, he has to take extra works to make sure to feed himself when all of his salary goes to his father’s creditors.

 

Chansung can be considered lucky for this second half of the year because all of the photos he submitted so far had gotten them a lot of clicks. Chansung also managed to make a hell lot of money from selling the photos of Wooyoung and Suji together to other companies (except his own. Shhh) and used half of them to pay his father’s debt. These days, he’s warming up and venturing doing other things, and had even told his editors about quitting the “paparazzi” job altogether. They seem reluctant to let him go, but understanding of Chansung’s need to do something that’s more _stable,_ financially and all. Coincidentally, a senior photographer from another department is retiring soon, so they had approved Chansung’s request to be transferred. Now, he gets to snap photos of idols at airports (Who knew people were interested in idols’ airport fashion?) and sometimes, at music shows on a weekly basis. He also gets to be involved in photoshoots for interviews, which Chansung very much enjoys doing. Furthermore, he gets free time for most of his Saturdays and Sundays _every week_ to do anything he wants, which, _yay_!, but also, _boo_ , because he can’t follow Wooyoung anytime he wants anymore like he used to, except on weekends.

 

Speaking of which, according to some sources, Wooyoung is to start filming for his new drama today.  Admittedly, Chansung hasn’t done this—following Wooyoung around—for a while now because he wanted to give good impressions to his new team by working hard and not slacking off (which is worth it in the end cause he won their favour). They also never talk and never text despite having each other’s numbers, and Chansung is only a _tiny_ bit disappointed in that, but hey, it’s cool, cause Wooyoung is a celebrity and a celebrity is always busy. Chansung gets that. It’s better to believe in that rather than believing Wooyoung had forgotten about him completely, anyway.

 

Today’s filming is happening at Jeongbalsan Park in Ilsan. It’s not surprising to Chansung anymore that he’s willing to travel to see Wooyoung, accepting the fact he’s really turned into one of his fans. The train ride takes about an hour to reach Jeongbalsan Station from Seoul Station and once he reached the said park, it’s not that hard to spot the filming set for the day because even though it’s barely 8.30 in the morning, crowds of fans have already started to gather around the set.

 

Chansung doesn’t know when filming will start, but supposes he will once the crowds go crazy. For now, it’s still a peaceful morning with only the production team going left and right to make sure to set the place right. The crowds do catch attention of some curious passersby, but all in all, they’re at the park doing their own things as if unfazed by what’s going on. A lot of dramas, movies and advertisements might have gotten filmed at this park before that it’s becoming a common thing around here, Chansung thinks. He finds an empty bench overlooking the lake and takes a seat, opening the aluminium foil wrapping of his kimbap and taking a bite of the breakfast he bought at a stall near the train station.

 

It’s bright and sunny in mid-November, but the weather is still too cold even when Chansung’s using three layers of clothes underneath his thick coat. With nothing else to do after finishing his breakfast, Chansung takes his camera out and starts moving around to take photos of the things around the park and at the same time to—hopefully— keep him warm. He hasn’t done this for a while either—snapping photos of the nature and of the things that interest him that don’t come in the form of celebrities, and he finds himself missing it. He’s always been interested in photography, but with the kind of job he’s been doing for the past few years of his life, it didn’t leave too much time for Chansung to indulge in his hobby.

 

Chansung’s taking photos of the falling leaves when a hand holding a Starbucks cup enters his viewfinder. He pulls his camera down to see who the person is, only to find it’s the girl he had a short conversation with at the airport. She’s smiling up at him, her cheeks tinted with blush. She had bleached her hair, her hazel contact lenses and that hair color make her fair skin stood up so much, she looks like a doll.

 

“Here,” she says, still holding the cup toward Chansung. “This will warm you up and keep you awake throughout the filming. It’ll take hours of shooting today and there’s no guarantee we’ll see Wooyoung oppa all the time. Come on,” she insists, beckoning at Chansung to take the cup from her hand.

 

“Thanks,” Chansung dumbly takes the cup into his hands after putting his camera away. The warmth immediately sips into his skin and makes the coldness go away for a bit. That’ll do for now.

 

“I haven’t seen you around lately, I thought you’ve moved on to a different idol,” she chuckles. As she starts walking down the pavement, Chansung naturally follows along by her side, although slightly behind her.

 

“Oh, no. I’ve just been busy,” Chansung offers a simple explanation. “Aren’t you cold?” he blurts out, noticing the girl wearing a skirt. Even though she has thick, fluffy parka on, her skirt barely reaches her knees. It must have been cold because it  _looks_ cold.

 

“What?” she turns around with a giggle, looking at Chansung funny. She doesn’t seem as shy as she was at the airport and Chansung wonders if she was the type to feel anxious and fall quiet around a lot of people, but does just fine in one on one interaction. “It’s not that cold. Besides, fashion over everything else.”

 

“I’m pretty sure health comes first,” Chansung smiles and takes a careful sip on the hot espresso. The girl cups her hands on her drink and continues walking in silence. “Do you live around here?”

 

“Of course not.” Chansung expected that answer. “I got here from Seoul last three days ago. You should’ve, too. You would’ve met Wooyoung oppa a lot. He went shopping and sightseeing quite a lot last couple of days,” she chuckles. Chansung knew about that, too. He’s seen photos of it circulating around on twitter.

 

“You came here alone?” He still thinks the girl seems too young. Not that young people can’t be independent, of course. Chansung is just curious. Doesn’t she have school to attend? What about her parents? Are they okay with their kids following idols around?

 

“Yeah. I’m used to it, I guess,” she shrugs. She stops at a bench and puts her backpack down before taking a seat. Chansung follows. “I’ve been doing this for three years already.”

 

“How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” he finally asks.

 

“Don’t worry. I’m old enough for this,” she rolls her eyes playfully. “I’m twenty-one. I’ve been a fan of his since I was fourteen, but only started my own fansite when I was eighteen. I like it. I get to travel a lot.”

 

“What about school?”

 

“Oh my God, what century is it?” she rolls her eyes again. “You can get a lot of things done through internet these days, ya’know? Or maybe you don’t?” she blinks at him. “Does that mean you’re old? Like, ahjussi-level old?”

 

Chansung guffaws at her question. “Excuse me, I’m the same age as Wooyoung, okay.”

 

“Oh, an oppa then! Good, good. Cause if you’re an ahjussi, you should’ve said so when I asked back at the airport,” she says. “Hmm…what’s your name?”

 

“You can call me Chan,” he smiles. He’s being cautious and doesn’t want to give away his full name, just in case, but he figures there’s no harm in giving her a nickname she can call him by.

 

“Ah,” she nods her head in acknowledgement. “I’m Wendy. That’s just my fandom name, actually.”

 

“Fandom name?” Chansung chuckles out of amusement.

 

“If celebrities have stage names, we fans have fandom names,” she laughs. “Kind of like an alter-ego.”

 

“I see.”

 

“You know, you never told me if you had a fansite or not,” she mentions after a while. “I think, maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. Either way, can we be friends? I don’t have a lot of friends in this fandom,” she sighs. “I’ll still use formal speech with you cause you’re obviously older than me. I guess, I just think it’ll be nice to have someone to talk with while waiting around for Wooyoung oppa, or discuss his new works together or something, you know…”

 

Chansung senses the sadness in her tone. He wants to know the reason why Wendy doesn’t have a lot of friends in the fandom just like she claimed, but maybe it’s not for him to ask now. He understands wanting a friend though. He understands that it gets lonely when you have to do stuff alone. He went through that a lot before, especially before he hadn’t known Taecyeon. If it’s true Wendy doesn’t have friends in the fandom, then Chansung doesn’t have to be introduced to more of them. He’ll just have to deal with Wendy and stick with her, which is convenient.

 

“Just so you know, I can’t always follow Wooyoung around because of my job, so you won’t be seeing me a lot,” Chansung starts. “But I guess, yeah, we can be friends.”

 

“Really?” Wendy widens her eyes and grins. “That’s great! Don’t worry, it’s totally fine if you can’t always be present. It’s just nice knowing I have made a friend in the fandom!”

 

Chansung smiles at her. She’s actually really cute, now that Chansung paid more attention to her. Like an adorable little sister. She checks the time on her watch and hastily stands up, putting her backpack on just as quickly. “I think the filming will start soon. I’m going back to the set. Are you coming?”

 

“It’s okay. You go first. I need to smoke. Caffeine keeps me awake, nicotine makes me more alert,” he tells her. Wendy leaves after saying she’ll meet him at the set and Chansung sends her off with a quick wave of his hand before walking off to find the smoking area.

 

The smoking shelter is so far away and Chansung has to climb up a flight of stairs to get there. It’s very secluded and very empty, but the view is amazing and Chansung doesn’t waste any time to snap a few photos. Then he approaches the shelter and is surprised to see someone sitting there.

 

“Well, if it isn’t Hwang Chansung,” the guy says, lips curled up into a smirk as he pulls one of his earpieces out. There’s a thick bind of paper next to him with neon yellow marker highlighting a few paragraph, which Chansung soon realizes is a script book. Well, after all he _is_ here to shoot a drama. “It seems all of our meetings had been a series of coincidences so far.”

 

“Yo,” Chansung greets belatedly, cautiously taking a seat a little far away from Wooyoung but still can be seen by him. “How have you been?” he asks, mostly referring back to the “dating scandal” of him with Suji. The story’s died down after a new scandal emerged, but it had been quite a stir around the public especially because it involved the nation’s first love, Bae Suji. It hadn’t been all positive reaction either, so Chansung’s curious of how Wooyoung had handled it.

 

However, Wooyoung only dismisses Chansung’s question with a lazy wave of his hand and a “I'm good. Give me a cig.”

 

“Really now? Do you not fear for your image?” Chansung takes his box of cigarette out anyway and throws it to Wooyoung.

 

“It’s nothing new, me smoking,” Wooyoung shrugs and catches the lighter Chansung throws at him next. “My fans know. I smoke when I’m stressed. And when RiJin noona is not around,” he says, sticking a cigarette in between his lips and lighting it up. Wooyoung turns to stretch his legs on the bench and rests his back against the pillar.

 

“Are you stressed right now?” Chansung carefully asks, studying Wooyoung with inquisitive eyes.

 

“Whatever,” Wooyoung murmurs and closes his eyes, leaning his head on the pillar as well. Just by that, Chansung knows Wooyoung is not in a great mood. Maybe he’s just not a morning person. “Yah,” Wooyoung opens his eyes again and tilts his head straighter. “Why didn’t you text me? Like, I know making a call would be too much, but I expected you to at least leave me a text, Hwang Chansung,” Wooyoung frowns. His question catches Chansung by surprise. Was Wooyoung waiting for Chansung to call or text him?

 

“Well, why didn’t _you_ find me?” Chansung asks back. If he had wanted to talk to Chansung, then Wooyoung could’ve looked for him instead. Whatever it is about.

 

“My old phone is dead,” Wooyoung grumbles. “Dropped it inside the pool. In conclusion, I lost all of my contacts.”

 

Ahh, Chansung gets it now. It’s not like Wooyoung knows anyone who would know Chansung’s number either, so there was no one he could ask. With Chansung busy with his new job and missing from following Wooyoung, it must have been frustrating to him for being unable to reach Chansung.

 

“Aww why? Did you miss me?” He needs to know why Wooyoung was looking for him, but more than anything else, all he wants do right now is to tease Wooyoung.

 

“You little shit,” is what Wooyoung says, although he doesn’t agree nor deny to Chansung’s question. “I wanted to thank you for releasing the photos.”

 

“No. Thank _you._ I wasn’t going to submit the photos, but since you asked me to, I got lots of money from that,” he jokes. Wooyoung chuckles and sucks on the cigarette.

 

“Whatever, man.”

 

“Aren’t you going to start filming soon?”

 

“It’s not my turn yet. How long are you staying in Ilsan?” he asks, easily dismissing the topic on his work again. “Now that I think of it again, did you come here to see me?” Wooyoung leers, crossing his legs on the bench.

 

“I am here—,”

 

“—for a job. Yeah, yeah, good for you,” Wooyoung rolls his eyes, coming to his own conclusion without letting Chansung explain. “Covering the first day of drama filming?”

 

Chansung is obviously not here for that, but he nods his head anyway.

 

“I thought you only take _candid pictures_?” he quotes.

 

“I’ve moved on from that job, Jang. I’m doing other things now.”

 

“Ah, no wonder,” Wooyoung  says, as if he’s found the answer to something. For some reason, he looks relieved and calmer now. “So how long are you staying again?”

 

“I’m taking the last train back to Seoul later today, actually.”

 

“What’s the rush?” There’s a flash of disappointment in Wooyoung‘s eyes, but Chansung might have just imagined that. “Do you have to work tomorrow?”

 

“Not really.”

 

“Then?”

 

Chansung has no explanation for that. He’d only want to see Wooyoung today because it has been a while since he last saw him. He has no plan of staying or doing something else while he’s in Ilsan. If he thinks about it again though, Chansung has _no_ idea why he didn’t think of staying the night in Ilsan. It’s not like he has to work tomorrow anyway. Besides, it’s not always he gets to travel outside of Seoul without it being related to work.

 

“Tell you what,” Wooyoung says, breaking Chansung away from his thoughts. “Stay the night. I can get you a room at our hotel. It won’t even be a hassle,” he tries, sounding convincing. Why would Wooyoung want Chansung to stay though, that’s the question. As if reading Chansung’s mind, Wooyoung offers: “Seriously, I just want to have someone to talk to and have a drink with. Someone who is not my manager or RiJin noona, obviously,” he rolls his eyes again.

 

“Oh no, but you might get tipsy and start making out with me,” Chansung voices out a faked concern. _Not_ that he minded making out with Wooyoung, of course.

 

Wooyoung tsks and squishes the cigarette on the sand inside the ashtray stand. He takes the script with him and gets up. “No one is going to make out with you, please,” Wooyoung gently pushes the side of Chansung’s head with his finger, and then steals the cup of espresso from Chansung’s hand. “I mean, even if I do, you can always just stop me if you didn’t like it. And you have to _try_ first to decide if you like it or not,” he grins. “A small part of me is very sure you won’t hate it, though, Hwang, but what do I know,” he shrugs and then fakes a gasp. “Oh, I know _this_ _one_ for sure. You’re going to have to meet me back at the hotel later this evening if you want these back,” he waves the box of cigarette and the lighter in his hand at Chansung, moving away before Chansung could process what he just said and try to snatch the items away from him. “Bye!”

 

“Yah, Jang Wooyoung!” Chansung shouts after him. Wooyoung only raises his arm up and waves his hand without even turning to look at Chansung. Perhaps Chansung is supposed to feel a little annoyed he got played by Wooyoung, but he isn’t. In fact he has a huge smile on his face, thinking _This sudden change of plan won’t be that bad._

 

He didn't get to smoke after all, but the little encounter and talk with Wooyoung did make him feel more alert and awake than before.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung decides to stay in Ilsan.

 

Chansung has two options: go back to Seoul and buy new pack of cigarettes and a lighter there, or stay back in Ilsan to get back the said items from Wooyoung.

 

The first option seems a lot easier, but the second one sounds more tempting. As much as Chansung doesn’t want to admit it to Wooyoung, he’d like to see Wooyoung again and have casual talks with him to get to know him better.

 

“Well, since it’ll be a hassle to go back to Seoul, might as well just spend the night here,” Chansung reasons to himself. It’s so much easier to come up with excuses rather than coming into terms with his real intentions.

 

 _Give me back my cigarettes, you thief,_ Chansung sends the text to Wooyoung, snorting at the realization of how that’s not the only thing Wooyoung’s stolen from him. _I feel lost without them._

 

 _Ha. Come get it then,_ comes Wooyoung’s reply ten minutes later, followed by the name of a hotel and the direction on how to get there.

 

That’s how Chansung winds up at the hotel, only a twenty minute journey by bus from the park. It’s located right beside the lake that’s already been darkened by the night, reflecting lights from the buildings surrounding it. The stillness of the water is a bit unsettling to Chansung, but he pays no heed to it and proceeds to walk towards the entrance of the lobby.

 

Usually, fans would wait around for their idols to come out just to see a glimpse of them, but it’s surprisingly empty without any signs of fans at the entrance area. Chansung ignores it, thinking maybe it’s time for people to get dinner or maybe because it’s just cold outside and nobody wants to wait around.

 

“Manager Hwang! Hwang Chansung!”As soon as Chansung pushes open the huge glass door, he hears someone calling for him. He turns his head towards the sound and arches an eyebrow up at Wooyoung waving his hand at him, sitting on his luggage. “You’re late,” Wooyoung crosses his legs and folds his arms on his chest, looking up at Chansung towering over him when he stands right in front of him.

 

“Since when am I your manager?”

 

“Since…three minutes ago. Now move your lazy ass and bring me my luggage,” Wooyoung demands, already making his way to the elevator and pressing his finger on the button.

 

“I think you’re mistaking bellboy as manager,” Chansung comments, but pulls on Wooyoung’s luggage anyway and enters the elevator. “What about my room?”

 

“Oh, right,” Wooyoung fishes out something from his back pocket and hands it to Chansung. “Eleventh floor, room number 2501.”

 

“How much is it?”

 

“Don’t worry about it. I paid with my company’s card,” Wooyoung gives a mischievous grin, boasting “It’s nothing compared to the amount of money I made for them. They shouldn’t bat an eyelash when I use their money a little.”

 

“No, please, let me pay you back. It’s a bit…burdensome,” Chansung admits. Chansung feels uncomfortable Wooyoung is spending money on him. Moreover, he’s using his company’s card. He’s pretty sure Wooyoung’s management won’t have anything nice to say about him spending an amount of money on a stranger. It would be more acceptable if he was Wooyoung’s family, or a close friend. Right now, they’re just…Chansung doesn’t even know what they are.

 

“Well, just deal with it,” Wooyoung offers unhelpfully. “And deal with it fast before we reach our floor. Go on.”

 

This causes Chansung to roll his eyes. “You’re quite the stubborn type, has anyone told you that before?”

 

“Oh, plenty,” Wooyoung accepts easily with a snicker. He steps out of the elevator first and Chansung only follows after he reads the “VIP” written on the wall.

 

“Is this really necessary?” he refers to the word he just read. He’s assuming Wooyoung gets what he means.

 

“Yes. A wise friend said: if you’re going to spend money, spend it well,” Wooyoung snorts. Chansung only shakes his head in defeat and takes a look around the area. To the right side of the elevator area, there’s a lounge overlooking the lake— windows as high as the ceiling and lack of any curtains. The area is divided into three, all with sofa sets and a coffee table each. The lights are dimmed and the place is occupied by only two people— both busy typing on their laptops and papers scattered all over their table. They don’t seem to care about Chansung's and Wooyoung's presence, so Chansung doesn’t want to care about them either.

 

“Okay, my room is this way,” Wooyoung points to the left hallway. “Yours should be there,” he then points to the right hallway. “Let’s freshen up and meet again here in about…,” Wooyoung checks the time on his phone. “An hour?”

 

“Whenever you’re ready,” Chansung suggests and lets Wooyoung take back his luggage. Chansung didn’t bring any extra clothes with him, so as much as he wants to take a shower right now, he decides it’s better to do it later before bedtime instead.

 

“One hour,” Wooyoung finalized. “My room’s at 2406. Ring me up if I take too long. Or, whatever. Call me on my phone instead.”

 

“Right,” Chansung nods once in understanding and goes to find his room. He is relieved to step into a normal room instead of into a suite (he would’ve felt bad and awkward otherwise). The view is magnificent from his room, but more than anything, the bed looks so inviting right now that Chansung can’t help but to slump his body down the mattress. He sighs in appreciation at how comfy the mattress is, his body going lax immediately.

 

Chansung opens his eyes to the sound of the phone ringing and groans, reluctantly rolling towards the table to pick the phone up. “Hello?”

 

“I’m done. I’ll be out after I order some food. Do you want anything?”

 

“Anything,” he means literally, and Chansung hears Wooyoung’s laughter on the other end of the line. He’s groggy from sleep, but it’s strange how he can still think Wooyoung’s voice and laughter sounds so nice over the phone.

 

“You’re dumb. See you soon,” Wooyoung ends up the call. Chansung has to force himself to get up and wash his face. He’s shocked to see an hour and a half has passed when he was sure he’d only closed his eyes for ten minutes. He scurries out after drying his face with a towel, not caring of the hair sticking on his forehead. He finds the two people from before are no longer there at the lounge, and that Wooyoung’s still not out of his room, so he takes a seat on the middle section. He checks the photos he had taken earlier that day while waiting, until he feels a finger lightly pushing the back of his head and a faint scent of cologne invading his nostril.

 

“Did you fall asleep,” Wooyoung states instead of questioning, taking a seat on the single seater on Chansung’s right. He glances at Chansung and laughs, opening his macbook on the table.

 

Chansung can’t decide if he’s actually amused or dumbfounded seeing Wooyoung so dressed up. He’s wearing a red short-sleeved plaid shirt over a plain black tanktop and ripped jeans, complete with accessories on his wrists and neck, a fashion glass and a fedora hat on his head. He looks ready to shoot a commercial, to be honest.

 

“Why are you so dressed up?” Chansung chuckles incredulously. “Are we going somewhere?”

 

“Excuse you, Hwang. I’m an _idol_. I have to look good all the time even if I’m just going to use the restroom. Besides, you have your camera with you,” he looks at Chansung pointedly.

 

“Why, did you want to look good for me?” Chansung teases.

 

“Shut your mouth,” Wooyoung says in distaste. “I don’t trust you with a camera. I have to be prepared all the time so you don’t snap bad pictures of me.”

 

“You think so lowly of me,” Chansung sighs in mock disappointment. “Have you even seen the photos of you I took?”

 

“What about them,” Wooyoung wants to know.

 

“They’re actually quite okay.” _Divine_ , Chansung thinks. _Because the muse is divine, the photos always look great no matter what._

 

“Show me then,” Wooyoung replies distractedly, typing away on the keyboard. “Hold on, I gotta take this call.”

 

“Hm?” Chansung asks in slight confusion, until Wooyoung fixes his macbook and presses a button. “Junho-yaAAAAH,” he screams, causing Chansung to flicker his eyes from the photos on his camera up to Wooyoung. “Jesus. Would you mind putting some clothes on?” Wooyoung reprimands, clicking his tongue. Chansung hears laughter coming from the built-in speakers and sees reflection of a video call from Wooyoung’s glasses.

 

 _What are you wearing?_ Junho sounds amused and Chansung thinks he sees Wooyoung blushing as he clears his throat. _I thought you’re done for the day? Are you going to sleep like that?_

 

“Don’t be stupid, please,” Wooyoung presses his lips and pushes the glasses up the bridge of his nose. “My work is done for today but it’s not bedtime yet.”

 

 _Oh, why didn’t you say so?~_ Junho singsongs. _Lucky it’s day off for me. I’m going to bed to join Ni—_

 

“Stop right there!” Wooyoung screams in panic, eyes widening and hands gathering his macbook onto his lap. “Yah!”

 

_What is wrong with you?_

 

“I—,” Wooyoung flickers his eyes at Chansung. Chansung immediately looks away and pretends to be interested in his phone. “I’m not alone,” Wooyoung mumbles. There’s a long pause, and then a **why** _didn’t you say so?!_

 

“Excuse me, _you_ should be careful of the things you say when doing video call with someone,” Wooyoung shakes his head. “Are you still not going to put some clothes on?”

 

_Told ya I’m going to bed soon. Are you…on a date? Is that why you dressed up?_

 

“Bye,” Wooyoung deadpans, finger threatening to press something that Chansung assumes is the close button, followed by Junho’s _I’m kidding, I’m kidding!_

 

With a smile on Chansung’s face, he quietly watches Wooyoung conversing with Junho, talking about his day. They seem quite close, and Chansung’s mind wanders back to the blind item he’d read. To what extent was it telling the truth and just a made-up rumor, Chansung is always curious about that. What if they were closer than they appeared to be, just like the blind item said? _What_ _if_ Wooyoung was in a romantic relationship with Junho?

 

 _Wooyoungie, why’d you keep Junho away from me?_ A different voice can be heard, snapping Chansung back to reality. Wooyoung motions a shush at the screen with his finger.

 

“Sorry. I’ll hang up now. Take care!” Wooyoung waves at the screen and then looks up at Chansung. It’s a calculating gaze Wooyoung’s throwing at him, a hint of silent plea reflected in his beady eyes. Chansung doesn’t know what to make out of that look. He’s grateful, however, when the elevator dings open and breaks the moment, as well as Wooyoung’s eye contact with him.

 

“Room service for Mr.Jang Wooyoung from room 2604?”

 

“Yes, over here,” Wooyoung raises his hand slightly. The waitress settles the plate and wine in an iced bucket onto the table and politely asks them to enjoy their meals before retreating back to the elevator with the food trolley. Chansung almost drooled at the sight of delicious food, feeling his stomach grumbling from hunger. He realizes the only thing he ate that day was that roll of kimbap earlier that morning and nothing else. Chansung voluntarily forgets about what had just happened right before and focuses on the food in his plate.

 

“I hope you like spaghetti,” Wooyoung says. “They don’t have a lot of selections. The hotel is still kind of new.”

 

“I love anything and everything called food,” Chansung confesses, gaining a knowing snort from Wooyoung, whom at that time was taking out his phone from his pocket to take a picture of his food. “Are you going to post that online?”

 

“Maybe,” Wooyoung shrugs, undecided.

 

“Fun fact: did you know it’s not healthy to take pictures of your foods and post them online?”

 

Wooyoung throws a skeptical look, taking his fork up and twirling the spaghetti. “How so?”

 

“Because they make people want to eat and then gain unnecessary weight.”

 

“Shut up and eat your meal, Hwang.” Wooyoung doesn’t sound the least amused at Chansung’s joke, and _that tone_ amuses Chansung instead, peals of laughter filling the lounge.

 

“How come I don’t see anyone else from the drama? Are they located on different floors?” Chansung asks conversationally.  “Are they still shooting?”

 

“Does it make me a bad person if I said I don’t know their schedules, because I don’t?” It’s amazing Wooyoung sounds clear even with his mouth full of food. “’Sides, they’re not staying here. They’re at a different hotel.”

 

Chansung slurps the spaghetti into his mouth like he would with his instant noodle. “Different hotel? Why are you the only one located here?”

 

“If you must know, the hotel we were at is full so I checked out. Well, actually my manager is still using the room. I just moved out.” “Look, I couldn’t get you a room there like I promised because the hotel was full, so I got you one here with me,” Wooyoung explains with a sigh when Chansung gives him a confused look, which is not helping since it only makes Chansung even more confused because he doesn’t get it, doesn’t get a lot of things— from Wooyoung wanting him to stay, offering to get a room for him and now even switching hotels just so they’ll both be under the same roof. Does this mean anything? Chansung _wants_ for it to mean something, but does it really? “I thought you’d be bored alone or something. And I don’t feel like travelling back and forth to different hotels just to have meals and a talk with you.”

 

“I see,” Chansung accepts. “What did you want to talk about anyway?”

 

“Everything and nothing at all~” “Okay, honestly, I just want to get to know you more.”

 

Chansung feels his heartbeat flutters. “Why? Are you interested in my paparazzi past? Of how the media works? So you can dodge the troubles?”

 

“I mean,” Wooyoung shrugs nonchalantly. “I guess that’s part of it; of why you become what you are. I was genuine when I said I wanted to be friends with you, you know…”

 

“Should we finally settle on that? That we’re friends?” Chansung decides with a smile. Wooyoung grins back, pulling the bottle of wine out from the iced bucket. He pops the cork open and pours the dark liquid into their respective glasses.

 

“Good thing I ordered this. Time to celebrate our ~friendship~!”

 

Chansung laughs but even so, makes a toast with Wooyoung for their new beginning.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung has lunch with Wooyoung.

Chansung stops doing what he’s doing when his phone buzzes in his pocket. He pulls the notification tab down and sees it’s an alert from instagram of Wooyoung ‘s new post. It’s a new account he made (during the meal they had in Ilsan) after deactivating his old one half a year ago, and his first post ever after two weeks since the night in Ilsan— a selca of Wooyoung at the hotel lounge with the dark lake as the background. It brings an instant smile on Chansung’s face because he remembers very clearly the moment before the photo was taken.

 

 _Hwang, could you please move a little,_ Wooyoung had said to him. Confused, Chansung had asked Wooyoung why, only to get an eyeroll from him. _It’s an eagle-eyed generation these days. They’ll spot your reflection on the glass and stir a scandal!_ Chansung had laughed so loud at that, and feels like laughing again remembering it. Wooyoung and his sense of humor are just Chansung’s style.

 

 _I saw someone in the reflection of the mirror!_ Chansung comments, just because he can. They’ve grown a lot closer since that night, and it actually feels like they’re really friends now. He receives a text no longer after that and it reads: _you asshole! I went full on panic mode for like 8 seconds before I realized it was just you. Now you owe me lunch._

 

_What kind of logic are you using??_

 

_None._

_I just want to eat. They confiscated my wallet so I wouldn't buy and eat so much cause I've been gaining weight recently._

 

The smile on Chansung’s face disappears and is replaced with a frown reading Wooyoung’s reply. It's got to be illegal somewhere to force someone to starve to lose weight that's barely even there in the first place. Chansung always finds the society’s beauty standard ridiculous and baffling.

 

_Please tell me you're just joking._

_WHAT WEIGHT IS THERE TO LOSE_

_please enlighten me Jang Wooyoung_

 

_Hahaha thanks for the confidence boost!!!_

_My dance instructor is just pissed at me, I'm sure. I've just been so out of focus lately but in!my!defense! I'm just so exhausted over long hours of drama filming._

_They can't expect me to be awake and chirpy all the time, am I wrong, Hwang?_

 

 _No, you are right,_ Chansung agrees and shares the same sentiment. Celebrities are human with weaknesses, limits and needs, too. It’s not fair to treat them like robots that don’t have heart and feelings, to put high expectations on them and expect them to meet their standards. It’s just so wrong and unfair.

 

Chansung looks at his watch. He still has fifteen minutes left before lunch break, so he quickly resumes his editing work, partly to finish it and partly to let the time pass quicker. The phone buzzes again couple of times but Chansung only opens the text after he’s done with his work. The time shows it’s twenty past twelve.

 

_I just want to eat._

_Something. Anything_

_Please. I’m so hungry :(_

 

Chansung puts his jacket and backpack on, bowing his head at his seniors still working even on lunch hour as a silent form of respect and permission to leave first, and then types a reply to Wooyoung.

 

_I’ll buy you foods._

_What do you want to eat?_

 

Wooyoung replies with a smiley and then gives Chansung a call. Chansung picks up just as he enters the elevator with two other women and another guy. “Hello?”

 

“Fried chicken!” Wooyoung shouts excitedly on the other end of the line. “And pizza! Yes, pizza, too, please. Street snacks. Ddeokbokki. Fish cakes. Bungeoppang. All of them. The sinfully unhealthier the foods are, the better. ”

 

“Are you sure you can finish them all?” Chansung chuckles doubtfully.

 

“Don’t underestimate me, Hwang. My appetite can rival yours. I love food as much as you do.”

 

“Oh, not at all. Just making sure you’re not going to waste the food I spend my money on, that’s all.”

 

“What do you take me for, Hwang Chansung? Of course I’ll finish them all. Every single one of them.”

 

“Well, you better!” Chansung fishes out his car key from his pocket when the elevator reaches the basement parking lot. He uses his alarm to unlock the door and gets into the driver seat. “Where are you right now? Where do I meet you?”

 

“I’m at the company. I have filming at Ichon-dong later though. Let’s meet somewhere around there. I don’t want to eat here cause they’ll catch me pigging out for sure.”

 

“Oh, there's where I live,” Chansung says thoughtlessly, as that's the first place that came to mind when Wooyoung mentioned Ichon-dong.

 

“Cool!” Wooyoung says, surprising Chansung.

 

“I mean, I don't know if it's near your filming place or not, though,” Chansung quickly says. He wasn't suggesting Wooyoung to come over his house. He didn’t…actually want Wooyoung to have lunch at his house, not because it's messy or anything, but he doesn’t want to risk Wooyoung finding pictures of him randomly lying on his table. That would be embarrassing and he will never hear the end of it.

 

“It’s still in the same area where filming is going to happen, and nobody knows you and where you live— I mean, no offense, of course. It’s not a bad thing at all. Very convenient for me, in fact.” But of course he should’ve known better that once he mentioned it, Wooyoung would immediately agree to it. Chansung smacks his forehead at his carelessness.

 

“I…guess we can go to my house, _if_ we can’t find anywhere else to eat.”

 

“We _can_ ,” Wooyoung sighs. “It’s just not possible. Everybody knows me. Ahh, it’s so hard to be a superstar.” Chansung senses the humor in Wooyoung’s voice, and laughs. “So…just send me an address? I’ll see you soon.”

 

Chansung chews on his lower lip, still feeling a bit hesitant about having Wooyoung over at his house. A part of him is convinced that it’ll be okay and no one’s getting harmed, so before the other part of him tries to tell him to change his mind, _nope, abort plan now!_ , Chansung eventually says: “Okay. I’ll send you the address of my place.”

 

 

 

 

“Did I buy enough?” Chansung questions himself, pulling up the plastic bag filled with two lunch sets as he walks out of the elevator once he reaches his floor. He almost jumps in surprise at a voice calling out to him.

 

“Finally! I thought I was going to die of starvation!” Wooyoung looks up at him from sitting on his heels in front of Chansung’s door. “Are you going to let me in and feed me or not?” he says when Chansung doesn’t do anything but stare at Wooyoung. Chansung blinks. “Chansung!”

 

“Oh,” Chansung seems to regain his mind back, although still feeling a little confused over God knows what. “Didn’t think you’d be here so soon. Did you wait for long?’ he takes long strides towards his apartment and presses the pass code with Wooyoung standing up from the floor next to him.

 

“I probably didn’t but feels like it. Is that the only thing you bought for me?” Wooyoung asks, accusing and sounding disappointed and a little betrayed. Chansung finds it amusing, pulling the door open and slipping off his shoes at the entryway. The traffic wasn’t so crazy but Chansung didn’t have much time to get different foods from different places so he opted to buy lunch box from a family restaurant he frequents for lunches and dinners. He knew it didn’t seem enough but isn’t so sure of how many foods Wooyoung can eat either, anyway. Last time they ate together, Wooyoung didn’t even finish the salad he bought, and neither did he finish the spaghetti he ordered back at the hotel in Ilsan even though it had come in medium portion.

 

“It probably doesn’t seem much to you, but trust me, they are very generous with their portions of dishes,” Chansung says, walking inside and dropping off the plastic bag on the kitchen counter. Wooyoung doesn’t say anything back and it’s only when Chansung turns to look does he realize Wooyoung is _here_ , at _his_ home— his eyes curious as he observes the place while taking his shoes off. Chansung suddenly becomes self-conscious of his living space, feeling the discomfort pricking at his skin at Wooyoung’s impression of his house and if it’s going to change the way Wooyoung looks at him after this. The house is not so big, who knows, it’s probably the size of Wooyoung’s living room (it’s probably an exaggeration but _who knows_ ), but it’s comfortable enough for Chansung and it is perfect in its own way. Besides, Chansung lives alone and doesn’t think it’s a necessity to live in a huge apartment.

 

Wooyoung meets Chansung’s gaze and walks up to him, taking out the medium sized container to take a peek inside. “Did you buy fried chicken at least? Yah,” he gives a disapproving look at Chansung. “You should’ve at least prepared slippers for your guests, you know?”

 

Chansung actually flushes in embarrassment at that. He never invites people over to his home and rarely ever gets visitors so Chansung doesn’t bother with those kinds of thing even though it’s a common host’s ethic. “Sorry,” he manages to mumble. “I think I have a spare somewhere but I don’t remember _where_ that somewhere is. I don’t usually have guests over, so…”

 

“Aigooo.” Wooyoung’s eyes squinted slightly as he looks at Chansung, his gaze hinting a suppressed nag from escaping his mouth and the only thing that comes out is a resigned sigh. He opens the container and looks pleased when he sees that the lunch set does come with fried chickens. He uses the chopsticks to get a taste of the pickled white radish. “You don’t invite people over? Not even your girlfriend?”

 

“I would if I had one,” Chansung shrugs, taking his container of food and moving to the table in the living room area. _Or if I were interested in one,_  he snorts internally.

 

“You mean, you don’t have one?” Wooyoung asks. He sounds like he hasn’t moved from his previous spot and when Chansung turns to look, Wooyoung is indeed still standing near the kitchen counter.

 

“No,” Chansung shakes his head, his hand carefully settling the container down on the coffee table without tearing his gaze away from Wooyoung. “Why? Is it strange?”

 

“ _Pathetic_ , more like,” Wooyoung answers, though no malice detected in his voice. “Who in the world does not have lovers in this century? Hmm? Who?” He quickly moves to the living room and sits himself on the floor next to Chansung.

 

“Well, do _you_ have a girlfriend?” Chansung arches an eyebrow up in challenge.

 

“Lots of em~” Wooyoung singsongs, another pickled white radish popped into his mouth. “…Hwang, you look like you just hit jackpot. Thinking of getting the front-page headline? Let me shatter that dream before it goes too far— I mean I do have lots of girlfriends. As in, my fans~”

 

“Don’t say gross things like that. It’s just the two of us here, no one to impress.”

 

“Oh, you weren’t impressed of that? Why is that?~”

 

“Shut up and eat your lunch, please.”

 

Wooyoung does not retort. In fact, he’s gladly eating and enjoying his lunch. It makes Chansung happy to see Wooyoung eating this much without a care of anything or anyone else. “Are you always busy with your works?”

 

“As busy as you are. Or maybe less, but still busy, yeah.”

 

“How do you relieve your stress then? Do you get laid often?” Chansung chokes on his food at Wooyoung’s unexpected question. Of all the things to say… “Or are you too busy for that, too? Do you do it yourself?” he continues casually, talking as if it’s just another normal topic to have conversation on with another person you’re having meals with.

 

“What kind of questions are you asking while we’re having lunch…!” Chansung coughs, swallowing the food down his throat with a bottle of water that he always has, ready on the coffee table.

 

“What?” Wooyoung blinks innocently. “It’s normal. Guys talk about things like this with each other all the time.”

 

“Well, pretty sure I’ve _never_ talked about these kinds of things with Taec before.”

 

“Oh, Taec! So tell me, do you do it with him?” This time Chansung chokes on his drink. Wooyoung is not even sorry by the way he’s laughing at Chansung.

 

“Do you do it with Junho?” Chansung’s mouth blurts out words quicker than his brain could process to stop him from saying it. Wooyoung goes silent immediately, his mouth slightly agape in shock at what he’d just heard from Chansung. Wooyoung opens his mouth to say something, but when nothing comes out, he closes it back and looks away, silently eating his food. Chansung bites his lips at his stupidity, feeling like punching himself from his carelessness. He thinks of a quick solution and lamely comes up with: “Or with Nichkhun? You don’t, right? Exactly~ who does it with their friends? Tsk tsk.”

 

“You knew,” Wooyoung cuts off Chansung’s awkward laughter completely. “About the blind item. You read it,” he states instead of asking, lifting his head up to look at Chansung. “And now you’re throwing shades at me like everyone else is doing. I expected better from you.”

 

“What?” Chansung widens his eyes in horror. “Shit. No— I wasn’t—.” He feels the panic building up deep inside of him, rising to cloud his mind from thinking properly of the words he wanted to say to explain himself and make this right again. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, knowing you might have hurt someone’s feelings and disappointing them. Chansung doesn’t want that, doesn’t want Wooyoung to be disappointed in him. How could he be so impulsive and careless of his words?! “I’m so sorry, I really wasn’t—”

 

“Oh my God.”

 

Confusion takes Chansung over when he hears and sees Wooyoung bursting into a loud laugh. Wooyoung has to lean back on the couch behind him from how much he is laughing, an arm pressed over his stomach and a hand covering his mouth. When Wooyoung’s gaze accidentally meets with Chansung’s, another peal of laughter escapes his mouth.

 

“Oh my God. Oh my _God_. You should’ve _seen_ the look on your face. Priceless!” Wooyoung half-shouts.

 

“What the hell,” Chansung manages a small smile and then a chuckle at the realization that Wooyoung was just bluffing with him. Instead of feeling surprised or annoyed, Chansung is relieved that Wooyoung is not actually mad at him. Silently, he watches Wooyoung proudly rambling about successfully fooling Chansung and _Oh my God, your face. Seriously. Your face was like—_ and bursts out laughing again. It’s a contagious laughter, slowly creeping into Chansung’s consciousness and tickling him to laugh along until he ends up laughing too. Wooyoung laughs louder when Chansung joins him, his gaze meeting Chansung's again and  eyes disappearing into beautiful half-moon shapes that leaves Chansung breathless.

 

Wooyoung makes Chansung feels a lot of things— happiness, fear, sadness, panic, nervousness, confusion—but right now, right at this moment and place, Wooyoung makes Chansung feels like he’s in love.

 

 

 

 

 

“Thanks for lunch today,” Wooyoung says from the other end of the call later that night. After ensuring Chansung he was only bluffing about being mad and disappointed at Chansung during lunch time, Wooyoung found out that his managers had realized he was “missing” and so had left in a hurry to go back to them right after finishing his food. _Gotta get going before they file a missing person report_ , Wooyoung had said as he hastily slipped his shoes on. _No, don’t laugh. Seriously, they’d really do it. It happened once. I’ll tell you about it next time._

 

Just the thoughts of Wooyoung make Chansung smiles— let alone hearing his voice and talking to him like this. _How silly_ , Chansung thinks. “You’re welcome. I’m happy to know my spending on those foods did not go to waste afterall,” he jokes.

 

“Yah, I told you I’d finish them all!” Chansung can’t decide if Wooyoung’s proud of that achievement, or offended that Chansung thinks he couldn’t finish that meal. “It was soooo good.”

 

“Good to know. You should eat a lot more often,” Chansung suggests. “Don’t worry about gaining weight. Just keep in shape.”

 

“It’s easier said than done, Chansunggg~”

 

Chansung blinks and then grins, turning his office chair around and looking at the view outside through the window; the view of Seoul, a city that almost never sleeps. “Did you just whine at me?”

 

“No, I didn’t! Ahh, you _really_ should’ve seen that look on your face, though,” Wooyoung giggles, casually changing the topic and averting the conversation back on Chansung. “So priceless.”

 

“So I heard,” Chansung grumbles grudgingly. “Hey, it wasn’t funny. I thought you were really mad at me.” He wouldn’t know what to do if Wooyoung was really mad at him. It would keep bugging Chansung, his mind replaying back that scene and making him feel bad over and over again. It would’ve been _horrible_. Chansung feels lucky he didn’t have to go through that.

 

“Why, were you scared I would stop talking to you?” Wooyoung teases.

 

“I was actually,” Chansung admits. “I was scared you wouldn’t want to be friends with me anymore. I wouldn’t know how to deal with that.”

 

All that Wooyoung says is a simple “Tsk” before silence falls in between them. The silence isn’t awkward at all, doesn’t make Chansung want to say good night and end the call. In fact, it’s calming to hear the faint sound of Wooyoung’s steady breathing, to know he’s _there_ —present, even though Chansung can’t see him right now. “Did you believe it?” Wooyoung says after a while, his voice quieter than before. Chansung tries not to get distracted by how husky Wooyoung’s voice sounds when he speaks in lower tone. Seriously, not the right time for that. “The blind item, I mean.”

 

“Hmm,” Chansung considers. “It _did_ make me wonder. But people put up stuff on the internet all the time. Whether it’s true or not, only the people involved would know, right?”

 

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a truth or a lie. People will believe what they want to believe. Goddamn it, I got so much shit for that blind item,” Wooyoung chuckles bitterly. “When you took those photos of me and Junho, I was… _scared._  I was scared history would repeat itself, scared of getting hurt again, scared of hurting Junho. I must have looked desperate when I asked for the photos back then.”

 

“You have every right to feel scared, to be suspicious of other people’s intentions. I’m sorry to have made you feel like that—to make you feel unsafe. I can’t even imagine what you had to go through just because of a twisted lie.”

 

The silence that comes this time evokes a strange, intriguing feeling. Chansung wants to ask Wooyoung what’s wrong, but doesn’t, and waits for him to say something. In the end, Wooyoung only lets out a quiet “Yeah.” “Anyway, I’m not bothering you, am I?”

 

“Pshh. Of course not,” Chansung says. He was doing some editing works when Wooyoung called him, but doesn’t think of Wooyoung’s interruption as a bother. He’s been thinking about Wooyoung all afternoon and is very glad to receive the call from him. “Is everything alright, though? Is there anything important you want to tell me through this call?”

 

“Nah. I just wanted to thank you for buying me foods.” Chansung hears Wooyoung yawning and smiles, although a bit worried if Wooyoung’s getting enough rest or if his works are getting demanding again. What a timing to wonder how many hours of sleep do celebrities, especially idols, get every night. He hopes Wooyoung’s getting enough rest daily, although it’s most likely unlikely. “I’m on standby. Probably going to film my next scene in couple of hours if I’m lucky.”

 

“You should probably get some sleep in between then.”

 

“Na-uh,” Wooyoung declines. “I’ll wake up grumpy cause I’d want to sleep some more.”

 

“You’re so cute, I swear to God.”

 

“Wha— what’s so cute about that? Don’t call me cute, please, it’s embarrassing.”

 

“But you _are_ cute,” Chansung teases, although he _really_ thinks Wooyoung is cute, hah! “You’re the cutest person I’ve ever met.”

 

“No, I’m not! I’m _not_ cute! Stop it!” Wooyoung huffs. “I’m very manly.”

 

Chansung snorts and then laughs. If anything, Wooyoung sounds cuter when he tries to convince he’s not. “Of course you are.”

 

“Chaaaaansuuuung!”

 

Chansung laughs louder at that. “See! You’re _whining_. How old are you again and how can you be this cute?”

 

“Stop embarrassing me,” Wooyoung mumbles sulkily. Chansung’s beginning to think Wooyoung’s probably genuinely embarrassed, but feeling only a tiny bit bad about teasing him.

 

“I’m not sorry,” Chansung clicks a photo of Wooyoung he’s taken a long time ago when he filmed for a variety show outdoor. In the photo, Wooyoung is sitting to get on eyelevel with a dog they were filming with that day, his hand petting the dog’s head and a warm smile on his face. Wooyoung truly shines in candid photos and it’s one of Chansung’s favorite parts about taking pictures of him. “For the record, I really do think you’re cute. And charming,” Chansung says mindlessly. He doesn’t care what consequences that would bring, because at that time, it feels strangely important and right to let Wooyoung know. Chansung doesn’t expect Wooyoung to say anything about it, so he is mostly okay when he’s met with silence. Confused, thoughtful silence.

 

“Chansung, I—,” Wooyoung starts, but gets interrupted by a distant voice calling his name in the background. “I—. Ah, shit. They’re calling for me. I have to go. I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t be,” Chansung chuckles. “Don’t worry about it.”

 

“I’ll text you when I’m free. Let’s go get meals together again next time. My treat,” Wooyoung suggests quickly, as if in a hurry. “And I’ll tell you that story of how my management thought I was kidnapped— my _god_ , they’re so dramatic,” Wooyoung sounds like his usual self again and that makes Chansung smile. “Okay bye Chansung! Ne, ne, I’m right here—.” The call gets cut off even before Chansung could say goodbye. Chansung doesn’t mind, though. He locks his phone and puts it down on his table before shifting his gaze back to his desktop screen where the window containing picture of Wooyoung is still opened.

 

“Jang Wooyoung.” Chansung can’t not smile when he says that name now. He’s coming to terms with his feelings—these feelings he has for Wooyoung. He realizes it’s been there for quite a while now and when Chansung finally acknowledges this, all that he gets is serenity washing over him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chansung meets Junho.

The days are repeats of yesterdays.

 

Work and life in general feel mundane to Chansung now. The only thing that makes everything better is Wooyoung—not surprisingly. Nowadays, talking to Wooyoung becomes the highlight of Chansung’s day. Due to different work commitments, Chansung doesn’t meet Wooyoung as much as he’d like to, but they text each other always, from early morning until late at night, and have occasional phone calls when they have the time.

 

Although Wooyoung’s entered the last week of filming since the drama is ending soon, his schedule doesn’t get any less busy. He has Japan concert tour in winter—which is barely two months away— so his days are filled with demanding and tiring rehearsals. It’s a miracle Wooyoung has this one Saturday off so when he invites Chansung over to his house, Chansung doesn’t even think twice before accepting the offer.

 

Chansung is mindful of what he wears and how to get to Wooyoung’s house though. He doubts people know who he is and who he is going to meet in the apartment complex, but still, he doesn’t want to risk it. There’s always a portion of Wooyoung’s fans waiting for him wherever he is, and although Chansung has not been around and near the other fans lately, he still remembers that some of Wooyoung’s fans do notice of his existence through pictures of him that they took so he’s taking extra cautions. It’s not like people will gossip him with Wooyoung together (or, would they?), however problems may arise if fans accuse Wooyoung of favoritism and treating them unfairly. Chansung doesn’t need the drama, and neither does Wooyoung.

 

As informed by Wooyoung, Chansung told the security guard his name and who he’s meeting. After checking and confirming, the security guard lets Chansung in to the basement parking where Chansung finds an empty lot. He presses the buttons on the intercom connecting to Wooyoung’s.

 

“Ne?” Wooyoung’s voice can be heard from the speaker.

 

“Wooyoung, I’m here.”

 

“Oh! Come on up! I’m on the tenth floor,” Wooyoung tells him, the door leading to the elevators unlocks a second later.

 

“I’ll be up in a few,” Chansung says and pushes the door open. He looks around while waiting for the elevator, but there’s no one else in sight. Shrugging his shoulders, Chansung enters the lift and presses the 10th floor button. When the elevator’s doors slide and ding open, Chansung is greeted by Wooyoung who’s already waiting for him outside, in front of the door to his apartment. He’s wearing a plain, white t-shirt and jeans, but it’s the hair that caught Chansung’s attention the most.

 

“Oh, you got a new haircut,” Chansung walks towards Wooyoung, who immediately pouts and crosses his arms on his chest.

 

“They made me get a haircut for my new album,” he mumbles. It’s not a bad haircut in any way, but it is a lot shorter. The hair is a new shade of brown now, the fringe fully covering his forehead and resting right on his eyebrows. It looks….for the lack of better words— _fluffy_ , and Chansung wants to pet his hand on them.

 

“It’s cute,” Chansung compliments, in hope to make Wooyoung feel better but Wooyoung only huffs and ruffles his hair into a mess.

 

“Ahh, I hate it. I look fifteen, Chansung. Fifteeeeeen! My fans are gonna treat me like a baby again.”

 

“But aren’t you a kid?” Chansung teases and follows Wooyoung into his house. The sensor goes off and turns the light on when they stand at the entryway. It comes with a built-in shoe rack and all of Wooyoung’s shoes are neatly arranged on each shelf.

 

“That joke is getting old, really, it’s not funny anymore,” Wooyoung deadpans. He slides a pair of fluffy, yellow house slippers with a shape of a chicken wearing sunglass and a black beanie to Chansung. Chansung notices Wooyoung’s wearing a different slippers but just as fluffy and cute, in the shape of a koala, and laughs. “I know what you want to say. Just don’t. They’re comfortable. Very comfortable. They don’t deserve to be ridiculed,” Wooyoung warns knowingly, looking as if he’s ready to take Chansung down if he says something bad about his slippers.

 

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Chansung defends with another laugh, and slips his feet into the slippers. Warm and fluffy, just like Wooyoung said. “It’s cute and fluffy. Like your hair.”

 

“Thanks for reminding me of my hair again. I’m gonna hate it until I forgot about it again.” Wooyoung makes a turn to the right side of the entryway, which Chansung soon finds out leads to a hallway leading to another room at the end. The walls on both sides have built-in shelves from top to bottom and Chansung watches in amazement at how every single one of them is filled with what seems like vinyl records.

 

“Wow, just how many of these do you have??”

 

“Huh?” Wooyoung turns his head slightly to look at Chansung and at the vinyl records collection he was referring to. “Oh. I don’t know. A couple of thousands, maybe,” he shrugs nonchalantly.

 

 _“A couple of thousands?”_ Chansung echoes in disbelief. Wooyoung must be bluffing, but then again….entering the living room and seeing another tall shelve filled with vinyl records, maybe Wooyoung is telling the truth. “Why do you own so much?” he asks curiously. It’s even more amazing the vinyl records are organized in alphabetical orders by the way Wooyoung puts labels on each row of shelf.

 

“I don’t know,” Wooyoung scratches his head sheepishly. “I just…love them? It’s very…nostalgic. Reminds me of home. My grandfather owned an antique shop and he had a room filled with vinyl records. I used to love hanging out there as a kid and listening to songs from different generations,” he smiles. “Some of these are from my grandpa’s shop. Some from my fans. I buy records that I like from the internet sometimes. The other half are from Junho and Nichkhun. They thought I like every record out there and go to buy for me _whenever_ they stumble on one. _Wooyoungie would like this one~ Wooyoungie would like that~_ ” Wooyoung supposedly imitates his friends and rolls his eyes, not annoyed, but…rather fondly.

 

“Your friends are nice people. They must love you a lot,” Chansung comments with a smile. It’s only then he finally gets to look around Wooyoung’s house. His living room isn’t as big as Chansung had thought. It’s long but narrow, _but_ still spacey with modern grey and white furniture decorating the space, the floors pristine white and well polished. To Chansung, it definitely gives off a wealthy aura, although looks more professional than homey than Chansung had expected. 

 

“They better!” Wooyoung says. He takes his phone out and types something on it before excusing himself to use the bathroom. Chansung makes himself at home and takes a seat on the comfortable couch, looking around the room with curious eyes. Seeing a few abstract art pieces hung on the wall, Chansung wonders if Wooyoung had bought them or if he was the one who made them. He makes a mental note to ask later as his eyes drift to the books, magazines and photo frames arranged on the television cabinet. Just like every other parts of the house, everything is neatly organized and carefully cleaned, with no dust in sight. At all.

 

“Amazing,” Chansung snorts to himself, reaching his hand for the frame on the side table. “Must be a clean freak,” he says as an afterthought, studying the photo in his hand. It’s a picture of Wooyoung’s backside with Junho and Nichkhun, all three of them looking at the sea in front of them. It’s a pretty photo. Chansung likes it a lot.

 

The bell rings when Chansung puts the frame back down on the table, startling him a bit. He didn’t know Wooyoung invited someone else to come over to his house that day, hadn’t known Wooyoung was expecting someone. A part of him is disappointed it won’t be just him with Wooyoung, but another part of him is curious and a tiny bit scared of whom he would be meeting.

 

Since Wooyoung is still not around, Chansung contemplates on whether to open the door or let the guest wait, but really, he didn’t have to because few seconds after the bell rang, Chansung hears someone pressing the code and unlocking the door.

 

“Wooyoungaa!” an excited voice calls for Wooyoung. There’s a soft thud of something thrown onto the floor and then quick footsteps approaching the living room. “Nichkhun bought us our favorite snacks from Thailand!” As soon as the person showed up, Chansung gets on his feet in bewilderment and the look on the guest’s face matches with his before it quickly turns into hostile glare. “Who are you?!” he demands, stomping his way to Chansung. With the obvious difference in height, the guy has to tilt his head up slightly to look at Chansung but the anger in his eyes doesn’t waver a tiny bit.

 

“I—,”

 

“Sasaeng?!” he barks accusingly. For someone so little, the guy sure has a loud voice and huge guts. Chansung is in a state between amused and scared because he really think it’s possible to get bruises from this guy on his face and all the way down to his pride.

 

“No, I’m not,” Chansung starts calmly, putting his hands up just right in front his chest to indicate he means no harm. “I’m Wooyoung’s friend.”

 

“Friend?” the guy—Junho, Chansung recognizes— cocks his head to the side in distrust, and then gives a once-over at Chansung. Even though Chansung is the bigger one between them both, he suddenly feels small under Junho’s gaze. “No, you’re not! Wooyoung doesn’t have friend like you or I would’ve known! Get out before I call the police!”  Junho suddenly bursts, taking a cushion from the couch and hitting Chansung with it while pushing him towards the door.

 

“Hey, hey calm down!” Chansung uses his arms to shield himself although he has no choice but to back away to the main entrance hall. Junho has ridiculous strength, too, apparently!

 

“What is going on— Junho!” Wooyoung finally shows up again. Chansung only manages a glimpse of Wooyoung because Junho is still hitting him with the cushion. The beatings only stop few seconds later where Chansung sees Wooyoung hugging Junho from behind him and holding him back.

 

“I didn’t do anything, I swear!” Chansung feels the need to defend himself and widens his eyes at Wooyoung.

 

“What?! _You_ came here uninvited! I am so sick of people like you always getting inside Wooyoung’s house no matter how many times we’ve kicked you all out!” Junho throws the cushion at Chansung. It only hits Chansung’s legs, thankfully, but Chansung still tried to avoid that shit like it’s poisonous.

 

“Yah, yah Lee Junho, calm down!” Wooyoung half-screams, taking backward steps until they both fall on the couch behind them.

 

“No, let me at him!”

 

“He’s my friend! Oh my God.”

 

That makes Junho stops struggling all at once. “He what?” Junho glances at Wooyoung from over his shoulder and then shots a glare at Chansung. “Your _friend_ , you said?”

 

“Yes, _Christ,_ would you stop being so dramatically overprotective, ughh,” Wooyoung loosens his arms around Junho and flops his back on the couch, seeming like all his energy had drained from trying to stop Junho earlier on. Junho ends up leaning on Wooyoung as well from Wooyoung’s action, oddly looking comfortable sitting in between Wooyoung’s legs. Chansung wishes it was him instead but it’s not like he would fit there as well as Junho does. Oh well. Still a nice thought, though.

 

“Wooyoung’s friend?” Junho repeats, directing his question at Chansung. He still doesn’t look welcoming of Chansung’s presence there, not so discreetly narrowing his eyes with judgment.

 

“Um, yeah,” Chansung fixes his jacket, awkward hands clasped together in front of him because he doesn’t know what else to do with them.

 

“Which company are you from? Rookie?”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“ _Which_ company?” Junho presses his tone.

 

“Umm. Offbeat.”

 

 _“Offbeat?_ ” Junho immediately sits up, looking as if something clicked in his mind after hearing the name of company Chansung is working at. “What the hell, are you Chansung? _The_ Hwang Chansung?”

 

Chansung’s surprised Junho recognizes his name and in his state of confusion, nods his head to confirm the answer to Junho’s question.

 

“What the _hell_ , you lied to me,” Junho smacks the packet in his hand on Wooyoung’s chest. Wooyoung takes the packet and opens it, his eyes light up with joy.

 

“Lied to you about what?” Wooyoung asks. He grabs a handful of the dry snacks and stuffs his mouth with them.

 

“You said Chansung was handsome but,” Junho points his hand at Chansung. “He’s clearly _not_. Why would you lie to me about this, Jang Wooyoung?”

 

“He said that?” Chansung asks in amusement, the same time Wooyoung chokes on his snacks so it quickly turns into worry. “You okay?” He wanted to approach Wooyoung, but with Junho still close within Wooyoung’s range, Chansung knows better not to risk his life getting close to them.

 

“I— when did I say that! I never said that,” Wooyoung retorts after swallowing, lightly pushing Junho’s shoulder and giving him a look that screams _I can’t believe you’re doing this to me_. Wooyoung’s cheeks are flushed red now, though, and Chansung can’t help but grins at that. Wooyoung’s gaze drifts to Chansung and his eyebrows knit together in what seems like annoyance and embarrassment. “What are you smiling at?!”

 

“I’m not smiling,” Chansung uselessly denies. He’s not kidding any of them, especially not when the grin turns wider at Wooyoung looking so flustered.

 

“What business do you have here?” Hearing Junho’s voice, Chansung is reminded they’re not alone. He was still standing where he is, but slowly and cautiously moving back to the couch he was sitting at before.

 

“Nothing,” Chansung says. He sits on the edge of the couch near to the other sofa the two best friends are sitting at, but seeing Junho glaring at him, Chansung awkwardly moves away towards the other edge. “Just hanging out.”

 

“What are _you_ doing there?” Wooyoung asks Junho back. He’s back to eating the snacks, crispy sounds can be heard when Wooyoung chews on them.

 

“Omo,” Junho moves from his current position so he can look at Wooyoung better. “Am I not invited here?” Junho looks like a kicked puppy and it amuses Chansung at how Junho can show two different sides of him at the same time. Chansung can’t stop himself from observing Wooyoung and Junho. It’s like back in the night at the hotel in Ilsan, except instead of just hearing them conversing, Chansung actually gets to see how they interact right before his eyes—the body language, the touches, the way they look at each other. Chansung suddenly feels like a stranger intruding their personal time, and so looks away. There’s also a strange feeling in his heart and it’s heavy, weighing his mood down almost immediately. He’s starting to think maybe he shouldn’t have gone here in the first place.

 

“That’s not what I meant,” Wooyoung’s voice pulls Chansung back to their conversation, his ears perking up when he adds “You know I love you and you’re always invited to come here, but I’ve made plans with Chansung.” Chansung looks up when he hears his name and meets with Wooyoung’s gaze. The latter offers a small, apologetic smile, but determined to fix this whole thing.

 

“What plan?” Junho presses his lips into a thin line. “Chansung said you guys are only hanging out. I’m going to hang out with you guys,” he decides, crossing his arms over his chest and sending a challenging look to Chansung’s way.

 

“Junho-yaaah~” Wooyoung loops his arms around Junho’s shoulders and shakes him a little. Already, Junho looks defeated but doesn’t want to admit.

 

“Don’t you aegyo your way out of this!”

 

“Pleaseeee,” Wooyoung tries again. He leans closer and presses his chin on Junho’s shoulder. Something inside of Chansung aches again but he can’t look away. “We’ll go out next week, okay? Besides, aren’t you supposed to be _somewhere else_ right now?”

 

Junho inhales and then exhales deeply in resignation. He uses his finger to fix his bangs and mutters a “Fine.”

 

Wooyoung grins in victory and hugs his friend, almost squishing him. Junho yelps but doesn’t really stop Wooyoung. “Thank you for the snacks. Tell Nichkhun that, too,” he says as they both get up from the couch. Junho only waves his hand dismissively.

 

“Give me a call later, ’kay? And you,” Junho stops to glare at Chansung again, and points his finger in warning. Chansung instantly back away his head in reflex. “You better not do anything funny, understand??”

 

“Okay, lets get you out of here, go go go~” Wooyoung grabs Junho’s shoulders and pushes him to move forward. “Be right back, Chansungaa.”

 

“Yeah, okay,” Chansung manages to smile, and put his hand up as a goodbye greet to Junho.

 

“Hey, why does he get to wear Piyoung?” Chansung hears Junho asks as they walk towards the hallway.

 

“Well, I don’t think you would appreciate him wearing PenPen, right?” says Wooyoung. Junho’s gasp is the last thing Chansung heard before their voices turn hushed as they walked farther away from the living room. Chansung immediately slumps down on the couch, leans his head on the headrest and releases a relieved sigh. This was not how he had expected to meet one of Wooyoung’s close friends (are they just friends?) and he is feeling a bit regretful it didn’t go well. He hopes things will be better and more comfortable the next time they meet. If they ever meet again, that is.

 

“You okay?”

 

Chansung turns his head to the right to where Wooyoung’s voice came from without actually lifting his head up, and is slightly surprised to see Wooyoung’s face so close to his. Wooyoung is leaning on his arms on the headrest and he seems surprised by the proximity, too, but neither of them pulls away.

 

“Yeah,” Chansung answers belatedly.

 

“Sorry about Junho. He’s just such a mom sometimes.” Chansung doesn’t reply and neither does he tear his gaze away from Wooyoung’s. Wooyoung does, though, for very brief seconds. His gaze goes lower and then comes right back up. “What do you want to do now? Do you want to eat first?”

 

 _No_ , Chansung thinks, and feels rather odd he doesn’t want any food even though he loves food and almost never declines when someone offers food to him before. The only thing in his mind is how close he is to Wooyoung right now, and how he so badly wanted to kiss Wooyoung. “Yes,” Chansung says—a “yes” to his own thought of wanting to claim Wooyoung’s lips with his, but for Wooyoung, a “yes” to his question so he smiles and stands up and just like that, the moment is broken.

 

“What do you feel like eating?” Wooyoung asks again. He takes out food pamphlets from inside the drawer near the couch and Chansung really wants to punch himself when all the answer he can think about to that question is _You._

 

“Anything,” Chansung blurts out loudly, surprising Wooyoung. “Anything is fine. Really.”

 

“Okay,” Wooyoung gives him a strange look. He sorts through the pamphlets before finally deciding on something a few minutes later. Chansung sinks deeper into the couch, forcing his mind to stop thinking nonsense things.

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't have done this without [maemdora](https://archiveofourown.org/users/maemdora), who's gone through highs and lows with me hahah. Thank you for your constant encouragement, support, faith, handholdings and cheers,and for being there through all my fears and doubts and spontaneous ideas. I love you to the moon and back <33 Also special thanks to [Jas](http://twitter.com/babochanbear) for providing most of the pics for this story haha.


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